People talked all at once.  They shuffled around and many stood to look around the table and the floor.  Most said, “What discs?” or “What recording?”  Alice Summers and Fyodor both asked, “What does it look like?”

In the confusion, Gilbert, the new guy stood, but Lockhart had his eye on the man.  When the man made a dash for the door, Lincoln stuck his foot out.  The man tripped but held on to something he had hidden under his suit jacket.  Lockhart landed right on top of the man.  Gilbert struggled, but not too hard because he did not want to damage whatever he had in the box.  Katie and Sergeant Major Thomas arrived and quickly put an end to the attempts to escape.  He got cuffed, so all he had was his mouth to argue with.

“The President wants to review the recordings and decide if some of the records need to be made public,” Gilbert admitted.

“Don’t you mean the Masters want it?” Lincoln said as he walked up.

Gilbert shook his head and stared at Lincoln, but he held his tongue.  An obvious lie would not have helped him at that point.  “General Weber,” he tried to say. “This is government property.”

Katie got the box that held the recordings and retrieved Decker’s ring.  She still wore her necklace with the camera.  She went to hand it to Alice, but Alice waved her off, saying, “Now that we have settled the administration spy in your midst, we have one more thing to do first.  Roland and Boston, would you come up here, please.”  Alice turned to Bobbi and asked.  “Are you ready?”

Bobbi took a deep breath and let it out, slowly.  She smiled and nodded.

Roland and Boston held hands and waved at the empty space at the front of the room.  They said, “How many miles to Avalon?  Three score miles and ten.  Can I get there by candlelight?  Yes, and back again.”

An image of an archaic stone archway eight feet tall and six feet wide appeared in the open space and slowly solidified.  The archway had a door so no one could see into that glorious country.

Alice hugged Bobbi and said, “You can come home and visit anytime.”

Boston called to Sukki. “Sister.  Come with me.  I want to show you my home.  You can come back whenever you are ready.”

Sukki hesitated.  “Mom?  Dad?”

Lockhart nodded as Katie spoke.  “Go on.  Enjoy yourself.  We are home now, and you are a big girl.  Be good but have fun.”  Katie smiled and Sukki responded with a smile.

Bobbi opened the door, and everyone caught the aroma of fresh cut grass, grain ready to harvest, and many kinds of flowers. Some caught the scent of the sea and swore they heard the breakers on the shore. Some heard the birds and bubbling brook.  A few lucky ones that happened to be at the right angle caught sight of the great castle on the hill with its uncountable towers and all the banners fluttering in the breeze.

Bobbi, Boston, Sukki, and Roland went into that other place, and Roland closed the door behind them.  The archway faded and vanished altogether, and Alice smiled.  “Welcome home,” she repeated for the travelers.  “Be good, and Merry Christmas.”  She raised her hands and vanished, this time without the flash of light because everyone was looking at her, and she did not need to get their attention.

While Lockhart and Sergeant Major Don Thomas got Gilbert settled, and two of the security crew carted him away to a lockup, Katie took a closer look around the room.  She had been occupied during the brunch catching up with Alexis, Roland, and Boston.  Now, it looked to Katie like something out of middle school.  The lawyers had a table.  The technology people had a different table.  The security group had a third table. There were a couple of other tables.  One for personnel, one for the medical staff and some scientists like biologists and chemists, and one for what was likely the physicists in the group.  She wondered if they mixed and matched well.

One table appeared to be all military people.  She saw a Lieutenant commander of the navy, two air force captains, though one had a patch that said U. S. Space Force.  She had some catching up to do. She later discovered that the space force was not official yet, and would not be for another four years, but that officer worked in space command.  She saw an army major and noticed that they all came in uniform.  They must have been told in advance.  Eating with the officers were five non-coms from the five branches, one being from the coast guard.  One was a marine staff sergeant, and Katie had to jog her memory to grab the woman’s name.

“Miriam,” she called.  The woman put her napkin on the table and came right over.  She came to attention and saluted.  Katie returned the salute and said, “You work for the director.”  It was a question.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Well, first of all, let’s dispense with coming to attention and the salute.  You can’t be saluting every time I come to the office.  You will never get any work done.  And second, call me Katie, though I suppose in public you should probably make that Lieutenant Colonel.”

“Lieutenant Colonel,” Miriam said.  The marine drilling and discipline to acknowledge rank was strong.  She did not doubt Lieutenant Colonel was what they would all call her, though the army and air force people might just call her Colonel.  They probably called Sergeant Major Thomas simply Sergeant.  Some service branches were not as strict as the marines.

“We ready?” Lockhart asked, interrupting Katie’s thoughts.  She nodded and told Miriam to come along.  Don Thomas also came, and Katie went back to her introspection as they walked.  Oddly, she did not imagine anything about what things might be like in the Pentagon and the Smithsonian.  She did wonder if Miriam was as good a secretary as reported, if maybe she could take the woman with her.

Down the hall, they came to the two elevators that went down to the third basement—the old bomb shelter.  It presently housed the main frame supercomputer that allowed the Men in Black to track just about everything on the planet.  It connected with several satellites, all built with enhanced alien technology garnered from the many different aliens that fell to Earth or visited and left things behind.  It also had regular maintenance and IT people that came in and out of the basement.

The other side of the basement remained a bomb shelter of sorts, where people could go in a time of emergency.  It got some revamping during the Vordan incident.  The security department got oversite for the shelter, to make sure the supplies remained fresh and the equipment like the generators and appliances remained in working order and up to date.  Security oversaw the basement armory.  Lockhart saw some ray-guns there and wondered how they worked.

They came to a big metal door at the back of the shelter and paused.  Lockhart, as the assistant director, had the authorization to open the safe.  One screen scanned his palm print.  Another scanned his iris.  There were other locks, and when the door opened, it made a great whooshing sound.  Miriam told Katie it was vacuum sealed.  Three white cloaked technicians stepped over from the computer side to watch.  They produced handguns when the door opened and told everyone to raise their hands and leave their guns in the holsters.  One technician took the recordings.  One stepped into the safe to retrieve something.  The third one spoke.

“Just as well Gilbert did not get away with these recordings,” he said.  “The Masters want these recordings.”  He paused to threaten Lockhart.  “I imagined taking your daughter as a hostage, but the wife will do.”  He made Katie move back toward the elevator and pushed the button to open the door and another button to hold it open.  The man holding the recording stayed to point his gun at the three by the door, focusing on Lockhart and Don Thomas who were likely dangerous.

“Hurry up,” the man shouted into the safe.  The woman that went in started to return when the other elevator arrived, and the door opened.  Someone shot the man by the door.  The one on the elevator with Katie quickly closed the elevator door to escape with his hostage.  Lockhart looked once at the elevators.  The one started to go up, but Lincoln and Alexis came from the other one.

“I didn’t trust that Gilbert to be working alone,” Lincoln said.

“I trust my husband’s suspicious instinct,” Alexis said with a smile.

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Tomorrow

Don’t forget Thursday’s post. It will end the episode and the Avalon Series so don’t miss it. Enjoy the moment and Happy Reading

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