FSE

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-NEW MESSAGE

-FROM: HQ

-TO: BRAVO

-SUBJECT: #1

Was there any indication of his intentions? The chief needs to know if he or any of his people are at risk.

END MESSAGE

"Take the car and try to sell it. Cash would be best."

"Okay, why?"

"By now the JIA will have the plates and registration. They'll be able to track it. Besides, we won't be needing it for the next few days. We're going off road," and then, adding with a sideways look, "If you can handle it."

Jaimie replied with a smirk, "You forget I'm a mountain girl. I can do off road. What are you going to be doing?"

"I'm going to try and get us a new set of wheels," which translated to something which could handle the rigors of traversing the dessert and possibly mountains.

I searched the phone directory and soon found what I was looking for. There was a dealership for a popular motorcycle and ATV company in town. The half page advertisement in the yellow pages indicated that they also did rentals, which was perfect. Whether or not they'd let me rent with cash was the real question.

In the end, they did, after nearly an hour of haggling, arguing, promises, and bribes. I may as well have bought the two ATVs I was finally given the keys to. The dealership owner assured me I'd get the difference back "if" I returned the vehicles. I only hoped Jaimie had better luck. I told the slick dressed kangaroo who I had been working with that I'd be back to pick them up in an hour before taking a cab back to the hotel where I paid to extend the reservation for three days.

I was about to return to the room and wait for Jaimie when she walked into the entrance behind me. There was a rather large bulge in her front pocket which I eyed suspiciously. Before I could ask any questions, she took my arm and led me to our room.

"So, how did it go?" I asked.

"Great. I got lucky though. Found a chop shop by accident which was happy to take the car off my hands and even more so to pay cash for it. It looked like a pretty shady operation, but the chick who ran the shop paid decently for a car which wasn't stolen."

"Good, how much did you get for it?"

Jaimie reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded bundle of Thousands. I whistled appreciatively. That would defiantly help cover the ridiculous price for the ATVs. I informed Jaimie that I was going to change and then we'd head out. I had briefed her on my intentions over breakfast. Though she was a bit skeptical of my source, she thankfully agreed with my plan without many questions.

A few minutes later, Jaimie stepped out of the small bathroom. I couldn't help but stare in awe at her new appearance. She wore an ultrathin, long sleeved, white outer layer over a blue sports bra. Her legs were covered only in a pair of olive khaki shorts cut well above mid thigh. Her hair was tied back with a red bandana and copper tinted sunglasses protected her eyes.

"I told you I could do off road," she informed me, ginning at the expression on my face.

I had opted for a pair of black and orange sports pants and a fur tight, white, temperature control base top. I wore a bandana around my neck so I could pull it up to protect my nose and face. I slipped on a pair of wide black sunglasses as we left the room.

We greatly enjoyed the first part of the day, hopping over dunes, racing across flat hard pack, and navigating around large rocks. Jaimie rode on a red four wheeler while mine was black and white. We stopped by a small stream, still running from snow melt, for lunch. The excitement of the morning was beginning to wear off and the search was becoming more important.

After eating, we packed back up and continued our journey north. As it had before, the fact that I had no idea what I was looking for bothered me. What was I expecting to find, a fenced perimeter, specked with guard towers or perhaps a sign saying restricted area? No, if it was a secret facility that the government could deny, it probably wouldn't have any detectable outward signs. The day moved forward and the sun got lower on the far horizon. My exposed fur and hair was caked with red brown dust and my paws were numb from the vibration of the handle bars. I drove along slowly and soon Jaimie pulled up alongside me.

"Xavier, it's starting to get dark, maybe we should call it a day and set up camp for the nigh."

"Yeah," I agreed reluctantly, "you're probably right."

I steered my ATV around an outcropping spur of mountain. As I looked at what was around the corner my heat skipped a beat. I increased the throttle and sped forward. Three minutes later, I was standing in front of the geographical feature which had caught my attention. It was a broad, flat cliff. Jaimie soon caught up and dismounted to stand next to me.

"What is it?" she asked with mild concern on her face.

"This is it!"

"Xavier, this is a cliff."

"No, it's not 'A' cliff, it's 'the' cliff."

"What are you talking about?"

"This is the cliff from my dreams. The one I'm always flying towards. This has got to be where the bunker is!"

"Xavier, this is a cliff."

I pulled her next to me and grinned, "Yeah, it is."

Jaimie stared at me, the concern now clearly etching her features. I ignored this though and examined the stone face. There had to be something. This just had to be what I was looking for.

"Jaimie!" I shouted, "See this crack, it runs strait up, dead center on the rock. There is no way that's natural. This has to be a door... or something."

"Okay," she replied, skepticism dripping from her words, "how do we open it?" I don't suppose you could push. Try knocking, maybe some one's home."

"Your sarcasm is doing nothing to improve the situation. Give me a minute."

I stared at the mountainous edifice, trying to remember anything more about this place. I sat down, resting my back against the rock, closed my eyes and kneaded my forehead where a headache had begun to develop. There had to be something.

The sun was setting behind me while I stood before a recessed portion of the cliff and slammed my fist against stone.

"Damn!"

"This is the third time in a row the sergeant has locked us out."

I turned to see the speaker. He was a fox, taller than myself. His fur was rust red, his ears and paws were white and the tip of his tail was black. I noticed that he was clad in similar cloths as myself, grey digital pattered fatigues. There were three others who accompanied me and the fox.

One was a black bear. He was about my height, but built like a tank, with bulging forearms and biceps. His fur, close cropped hair, and eyes were black as midnight. The very tip of his nose was brown, the only color on his body. Beside him was a brightly colored falcon. He was short and thin, but stood confidently and had a fearsome gleam in his eyes.

The final companion was a rather attractive female marten whose toned muscles were clearly visible. Her fur was light tan which darkened on her lower arms and tail. She had a cream colored collar and mask and light hair of similar color. Her violet eyes burned with determination and I was willing to bet that she could have torn me limb for limb if she wanted to.

It was the latter individual who spoke next, saying, "I'm not sleeping out here again. I'm tired of the cold."

"Where do you intend to sleep, there's nothing else out here?" this from the bear.

"Well, if the front door is locked, why don't we try breaking in the back like I suggested last night."

"You mean the training grounds entrance?"

"Uh hu. There's no way it's nearly as difficult to get into as the bay door."

"Okay," I said, "and if that doesn't work, we might be able to break in through one of the ventilations shafts for the hangar and landing strip. You know how massive those fans are."

"Alright, how do we get there from here?" asked the fox.

The marten spoke next, "obviously it's somewhere on the other side of this mountain."

"Right," I said, taking charge of the discussion, "Curry," indicated the marten, "take point and lead the way. The rest of you, fall in, ranger file. Trestan, can you scout ahead?"

"Can do," the falcon acknowledged before leaping into the air and rapidly disappearing from view.

I opened my eyes to see Jaimie standing over me.

"Xavier, are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"You were like in a trance or something."

"A memory. C'mon, I think I know how to get in."

I began walking in the direction I had watched the girl in my memory travel. I blinked several times, because, there she was in front of me, semi transparent like a ghost. It must be a hallucination. That being said, it would probably lead me right where I needed to go, or so I hoped.

Jaimie and I clambered over rocks, traversed stretches of mountain side hiking deep into the mountain range. The sun was almost below the horizon and the light was bad, but I couldn't stop in fear of losing my mysterious guide from my memoires. Onward and onward the ghost marten lead, me following right behind. I was beginning to believe that I had gone insane and was chasing a mirage to my death when we reached an open valley.

Here, my escort changed her movement. Where she had been carefully picking our way over the rough terrain, now she darted from cover to cover across the exposed expanse. I stayed right behind her the whole way, checking the right side where the mountain stood. I was sure the others had the left and our six. No reason to get ambushed by the trainers now that we had come this far. Then I remembered that it was just me and Jaimie following an illusion.

I turned to ensure that Jaimie was still behind me. When I looked back for the marten, she sprinted to a point in the cleared space, and then disappeared.

"Wait!" I shouted, running after her, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Xavier, who are you talking to? There's no one there."

"The girl, the girl from my memory," I stammered, but of course, Jaimie hadn't seen her.

"Chasing imaginary girls? I'm not sure if I should be worried or jealous."

I inspected the place where my imagined guide had disappeared. The was a large flat area of cement, which explained some of it. The must have been a building here at some point. It was now gone, only the foundation left to be slowly covered by sand and dirt and vegetation. I knelt, running the tips of my fingers across the cool concrete pad and closed my eyes, trying to recapture the memory.

I was once again behind the marten, my rifle pointed to the right, watching carefully for any contacts. We crouched behind one of the low buildings which were constructed here for our training missions. The falcon swooped down, landing in the middle of our formation.

"Okay, I figured out where we are. This is cluster four."

"Ah, that means this is the building that was supposed to be the embassy during our last exercise."

"Exactly."

"Good, I know where to go from her."

I gave the signal to stand and move forward. The marten returned to the front and lead the way. I followed five feet behind, again covering our right flank. We picked our way from building to building before coming to a P&R station. We moved through it, clearing the interior before continuing. Eventually, the girl who I had referred to as Curry raised her paw in a closed fist. The signal to stop. She waved me forward and I soon saw why. A solid metal door stood in the rock ahead. A camera over the entrance swept the surrounding area. A boulder blocked the squad from view, but that didn't help us get passed the obstacle.

"Give me a sec," she whispered, "I'm trying to access the security network. They've beefed it up since the last time I broke in, but it shouldn't take too long."

I waited patiently, the others completely silent. By now it was night and the only light came from the screen of Curry's data pad.

"Okay, I'm going to lock the motor. The error message will be delayed for an hour before being sent."

"Why don't you just loop the cameras like last time?"

"They won't fall for that twice. They have a new detection system for that and I won't be able to get around it without taking more time. This should be able to get us in."

I signaled the rest of the team and we ran in a crouch to the door. The fox moved forward, pulling something out of a pocket. The something turned out to be a shaped charge.

"Do I need to blow it?" he asked.

Curry responded, "I don't think so. The blast will alert everyone inside to our presence. Not every mission needs an explosion."

"I disagree."

I could tell the two were about to get into one of their usual arguments, so I made a subtle cutting motion with my right paw to silence them.

"Curry, what can you do?"

"Give me a second. Okay, I've broken into the door controls, give me the word Harper."

"Won't the unauthorized access warning alert the guards just as plainly as an explosion?" the fox asked.

"Not if I use my digital copy of the sergeant's biometric scans to trick the computer into believing he opened the door. Taking internal sensors offline."

"Good work Curry," I said, "Teague, I promise you can blow up two things on our next mission. Now get in position to breach."

"You better stick to that," he hissed as he took his place in front of me.

Curry stood on the far side of the door. I felt Trestan tap my shoulder. I reached forward and touched Teague's arm who nodded to her. She pressed a finger to a command on the computer's screen. The door slid open and we slipped in, clearing the room inside. A computerized female voice spoke through an overhead speaker.

"Authorized entry, Master Sergeant Day."

I opened my eyes to find Jaimie inspecting the surrounding area with a flashlight. Noticing that I was watching her, she walked over to where I stood.

"Xavier, I don't know how we're going to find our way from here. Everything looks the same."

"Don't worry I know where to go."

"How?"

"Just trust me."

With that, I began following the path I had just taken in my mind, using building foundations and geographical references to navigate. Soon I was standing at the boulder which had guarded us from the camera, and sure enough, sunk into a rock wall, was what could unmistakably be a door. I walked up to it. The metal was still mostly clear of debris. I looked around to find a control panel. Jaimie gave a cry of surprise and I turned to see a rock slide into the one next to it, revealing a small consol. Better yet, the screen was on. I walked to it and read what was written.

-PLEASE SUBMIT SCAN FOR ENTRANCE

I wondered what this meant but then noticed a small camera and finger pad next to the screen. I placed my thumb on the pad and looked into the camera. This was obviously a biometric scanner. I jumped as a needle pricked my thumb, a small drop of blood appearing. A new message scrolled across the display.

-RETINAL AND BLOOD SAMPLE MATCH

-PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME FOR VOICE SCAN

"Xavier Snow."

-VOICE PRINT MATCH

-WELCOME BACK CW2 KIRIAN HARPER

The door groaned for a moment before the servos broke through four month of disuse and it slid upon to reveal a black interior. Jaimie shone her flashlight inside.

"Shall we?" I asked.

Before she could answer, I pulled her inside. The door slid shut behind us leaving the room pitch black. Then the sound of generators could be heard in the distance and the lights overhead flickered on. A computerized voice crackled over an intercom system.

"Authorized entry, Chief Warrant Officer Harper."

"Well," I stated turning to Jaimie, who seemed a bit scared, "here we are."

She nodded, seeming to be unable to speak as I lead us further into the underground facility. Now I might get some real answers.

-NEW MESSAGE

-FROM: BRAVO

-TO: HQ

-SUJECT: #1

Negative. He appears to be searching for information about his past. Showed no signs of hostility at this point

END MESSAGE