CHAPTER THIRTY THREE PART TWO

Chaos

Christine tossed her head in an attempt to evade the cool liquid dribbling down her chin. She grimaced, it stubbornly followed each movement!

"Madame Daae, wake up," she felt a light touch smooth an errant, damp curl from her forehead.

Christine's eyes fluttered open to stare into mismatched blue and green ones.

"Here drink this," elegant, cool hands lifted her head. She felt them tremble as they assisted her clumsy attempt at drinking.

Erik tried to squelch the butterflies springing off the walls of his stomach. His chest and arms could still feel the warmth from her body. In her sleep, she had snuggled her head under his chin, making the breath hitch in his lungs.

Erik frowned, mentally dissecting the unusual feeling… There wasn't anything wrong with his lungs. He was out of sorts over Shade, yes, that was it. He hadn't had time to process the untimely information regarding the bombing.

"Are you hypoglycemic, Ms Daae," Nadir's voice sounded across the cave.

"Yes, I've never done this before, though." Christine sat up in order to take the steaming cup of soup from Erik's hand. Nonplussed, she smiled shyly at the Phantom in thanks.

Embarrassed, she inwardly groaned. Did she actually cuddle up to this man instead of a pillow? There was no accounting for behavior in dream states.

Clearing his throat, he answered, "You are welcome."

Darius dropped a pan he was washing while Nadir looked down to hide a satisfied smile.

Alan helped Carlotta out of Lance's new Humvee. "Thank God," she spoke into his ear, "If I could, I would kiss the ground. I kept expecting Lance to drive down a mountain side."

Looking around, Carlotta noted that Shade and Rachel had arrived earlier. With a crunch of gravel, Summer pulled into the drive manning a sports utility vehicle. Minutes later Reyer followed putting along in a compact family car.

Carlotta faced a log house nestled in a valley situated between several hills. Shrill whoops rent the air. Two tow-headed children burst out of the front door nearly knocking Rachel down.

A tall, thin man dressed in a blue, plaid shirt and jeans exited the barn. Hugging Rachel he then turned to the others. "Welcome. Cole, take your sister inside and start on your schoolwork."

"Ah, Daddy," the young boy grabbed his sister's hand and shuffled into the house.

Absently rubbing his blond beard, Forrest Vandyke surveyed the group before him. He was familiar with Shade, but these strangers made him uneasy. He was placing a tremendous amount of faith on Shade's young shoulders.

He and Rachel had worked hard to make the ranch an innocuous safe haven. Turning, he entered the barn followed by his wife.

Summer shrugged, then pulled on Lance's arm. The couple followed suit. Alan stayed close to Carlotta as Reyer and Shade brought up the rear.

The group passed several animals munching hay in their respective stalls. Reyer jumped when a snorting, bay Percheron, reached down and mouthed his beret. Mustache twitching, Reyer retrieved the slobber-riddled hat. Holding it gingerly with two fingers, the agent glared at the giant equine, "That wasn't nice, have I ever tried to eat your saddle?"

A rooster flapped his wings, crowing at the newcomers. Rachel gently pushed the startled chicken off the old tractor he perched on.

Forrest hopped up and started the machine. He rolled it approximately four feet and a door slid open in the floor.

Concrete steps led down to a work room. Alan felt like they transported him to seventh heaven. Mechanical parts lined the shelves as finished transponders, cameras, small phones, and weapons lined the tables.

Computerized screens covered one wall with an entire section devoted to the sky. A large telescope blipped and whirred with each satellite it spotted.

An antique propeller hung from the ceiling. "Watch yourself," Carlotta warned a bemused Alan, as he collided with her crutch.

After the door closed overhead, Forrest indicated for the group to pull up seats.

Carlotta snickered to herself, she never thought she would ever sit on a tractor seat, even though someone had welded it to an old milk can.

"You are probably wondering who we are. Rachel and I have thirty years experience between us as Core operatives. During this time we worked only for Core, myself on foreign field work, and Rachel had her own office at H.Q. When Rachel became pregnant with Cole, for the baby's safety, we both decided to retire.

"We compromised and opened this shop as a way to keep our skills.

"Rachel was and still is, the prime plane spotter in the nation. She continues her work down here. We work with the United States Air Force, the Pentagon, FBI and CIA, among others."

"Forrest found he had a genius for electronics. Those same groups commission him to make new espionage equipment prototypes. Most turn a blind eye to the fact he does not work exclusively for anyone. No two agencies receive the same equipment. It is easier to track them that way.

"Forrest's only requirement being: nothing of his origin is for use against the States.

"His electronic ability is rivaled by one other person: The Phantom.

"Not having a family enables the Phantom to search worldwide for parts or minerals needed for delicate commissioned objects. He scratches our backs and we scratch his so to speak."

"Being agents, you are aware that sometimes the government's left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. It is a dicey situation," Forrest rolled a pencil between his hands, causing the implement to click against his wedding band.

"Rachel has worked on a way to track air traffic flying over deadly vortices. We have not, nor do we plan on, inviting the government in on her research at the moment.

"Before I go farther, we have to apologize Agent Berkley, she saw your blip signature flying into Montana and not too much later the Phantom requested information. That is how he found Ms Daae."

Alan scowled but refrained from commenting.

"What do these vortices have to do with our situation," Summer turned from studying the telescope and radar.

"I'll explain that in a minute, Agent Rose. The way we see it, your situation ties into our research. Christine Daae's daughter and friends disappeared off the grid. While a confused government scratched their heads, Rachel made a discovery the following morning after their disappearance. My wife's high frequency radar picked up a blip over the Pacific Ocean.

"We researched and called in several contact favors, but no one knows of any plane, rocket, weather balloon, air force testing material, UFOs or fart clouds in that area at that specific time," Forrest ground out in an exasperated tone.

Rachel brought down a screen with her laptop. "If a plane started over the Pacific at this time," she pointed to a clock imbedded in the picture, it would take approximately one hour to reach where I spotted the blip.

"We all are familiar with the Bermuda Triangle and Devil's Triangle, but few laymen know that the world's oceans hold no fewer than twelve of these vortices. Secondly, scientists such as ourselves, are unsure where the anomalies caused by these vortices actually begin or end."

Rachel circled some artifact on the screen, "These types of blips are common place and seem to appear worldwide."

Lance looked around and asked, "Why hasn't the government captured these things or at least videotaped them?"

Rachel sighed, "That's just it, these blips are flukes, they are consistently invisible to the most sensitive of government equipment."