Invasion Earth by Philip R Benge
“Tell me again Richard, just what are we doing here?” Tom Ballinger asked as they pulled into the car park of the luxurious New Texas Health Spa in Houston.
“Tom, it will only take an hour or so, anyway I promised Sally Jameson that I would take a look at the place.” Mallory said apologetically.
“Well she sure must be a looker Richard.” Ballinger replied with a grin.
“She is quite pretty Tom, no ten, more of a seven, but she is quite cute, unfortunately she is just a little too strange for me, and definitely too much for you.” Mallory replied with a knowing look upon his face.
Unknown to the two agents, a camera was following their every move, Mallory was immediately recognised, it followed the two men into the foyer of the spa, and plans for Mallory and his colleague were put into operation. The two men had no idea that they were recognised, and as FBI agents, and they entered the foyer full of confidence in their abilities as experienced agents. They walked up to the reception desk, an attractive redheaded woman was sitting behind it, and she smiled at the sight of the men, her green eyes beaming out a welcome.
“Can I help you gentlemen?” The redhead asked. Her voice was low and husky, nothing remotely wrong with her Mallory thought.
“We would like to have a tour of your facilities, before we decide whether to spend a whole day here.” Ballinger replied. As he looked at the receptionist, he too now felt that the day was not wasted.
“Of course gentlemen, I will call our assistant manager, Ms Parsons, she will be glad to show you around.” The redhead replied, her smile fixed upon the two agents, and making them forget just why they had come to the spa.
A tall young blond woman in her twenties came through a pair of doors and greeted the two agents; she smiled at them, and after the usual introductions led the two agents through the Spa showing off all of its amenities, although the eyes of the two agents saw only the beautiful woman who was their guide. They saw nothing unusual about the place, just as the two agents had expected, it was a health spa. Finally they were approaching a room at the rear of the spa, Parsons opened the door and stood back to allow the two agents to enter before him. They walked into a massage room, two massage tables were in the middle of the room and two quite beautiful female masseurs looked up and smiled when they saw the two agents standing there. The two agents looked appreciatively at the two women, who both wore the shortest of hot pants, and they did not see Parsons pull out a dart gun from her bag, that she had left just inside the door. However, they heard the soft noise as the dart gun fired two darts at them, one after the other, each of the agents felt the sharp pain as the darts penetrated into the rear of their necks. They turned back towards Parsons with a quizzical look upon their faces, and then they fell heavily to the floor, unconscious. They spent the rest of the morning in the executive massage room, lying flat upon the two massage tables, and with their heads inside the fiendish alien mind bending machines.
**********
The two agents returned to the FBI building on Tuesday, however, Mallory delayed calling Sally until Wednesday.
“Sally, it`s me, Richard Mallory, I called to tell you how I got on at the spa. I went along to check out your Spa with my partner on Monday, and we watched the place for two days without seeing any sign of foreign spies. We even spent the last day enjoying its amenities, so as to fully check out the staff, your fears are groundless Sally, if I was you then I would take up their offer, it is simply a fantastic place.”
“What bothers me is that they may have taken you and your partner to be just plain Joes, unworthy of their attention,” Sally said, her fears still not stilled.
“You would be right Sally, however, my partner told them that we were FBI agents during the morning, while we were enjoying a massage, so you see, had they really been engaged on brainwashing anyone of importance they would have also brainwashed us, wouldn`t they?” Mallory asked.
His question seemed quite reasonable, and finally Sally believed his explanation about her silly fears, well almost, for she still harboured some fears that she was right. However, she knew that she has been wrong before, so she decided to go to the spa, but before registering she would have a look around the spa, just to check it out for herself, see if her fears were correct or just the fears of a silly young female, as she assumed Richard probably thought of her. If she were wrong then she would be able to enjoy all of the fantastic amenities that it boasted about in its brochure.
Taking a day off from work she arrived early as planned, she parked on the road rather than in the car park, in case they were watching for her arrival. Sally could see that there was a receptionist busy in the foyer so she hid behind a bush, biding her time. She timed her entry just right, for the receptionist took a moment while the foyer was empty to walk into a small walk in cupboard behind the reception desk, she was in there to pick up some more leaflets, ones extolling the wonders of the spa. Sally seeing the coast was now clear quickly but stealthily walked into the Spa, unnoticed by anyone, for the security guard had chosen this moment to use the toilets, the gods had decided to come down on her side for once.
As she walked around the main building of the Spa, she came to a room with a no entry sign on the door. ‘Well Sally, if you are going to find anything alien around here it will be in a no entry room, not in a room used by the normal customers.’ Sally said to herself, and quietly opened the door that led into the special massage room and stepped inside.
Hearing footsteps approaching, and feeling embarrassed in case she was caught snooping in a place where she was not supposed to be, she quickly closed the door and ducked behind a screen meant for clients to change out of their clothes. Two cloned aliens and a human walked into the seemingly empty room, they were talking in English as the clones were speaking to a human male, of course Sally just heard two Americans, and to her surprise, her friend Richard Mallory.
“Sally Jameson will be here soon, her appointment is for 10.00 o`clock, you will meet her Agent Mallory, to ensure that she is put at her ease. You will bring her here by an indirect route, go via the swimming pool and the sauna, that should put her completely at her ease, when you finally get to the door to this room, tell her that this is the changing room, when she enters she will then cease to be a problem?” One of the clones instructed the FBI agent.
“Yes, I am to put her at her ease and then lead her to this room by an indirect route.” Mallory replied. “And then she will cease to be a problem.” Mallory added, sounding rather moronic.
“Good, then you had better return to the foyer, just in case she is early.” The same clone ordered.
When Mallory had gone, the second clone spoke. “Why do we not just release a virus to clear this planet of its inhabitants, it would be a much simpler and easier option, then we would not have to associate with these cavemen.” The second clone complained.
“Because you fool, with all the dead bodies covering this world, the planet would be a seething mass of bacteria, and I for one do not want to live on such a world, now get back to work.” The first clone said angrily.
Sally was utterly shocked, the people at the spa really were aliens from another planet, she was right; aliens were indeed walking amongst them. She also realized that she was correct about the fate that had befallen her friends and colleagues, they had indeed been brainwashed, this was why everyone was acting differently, and that was the future that they had planned for her, so that she would cease to be a problem! Even so, she would have expected some sort of attempt to fight against it; all she had heard from Richard Mallory was blind acceptance of his orders. Mallory`s moronic condition only lasted while he was receiving his orders from his controller, otherwise he appeared to be quite normal.
Sally waited behind the screens until the two aliens had left the room, and then she returned to the corridor that led into it, she remembered an open window there, moments later and she had climbed out of the window and fled the scene of her worst nightmare. She was lucky that mor
“Sally, do not worry, you stay where you are and I will drive straight over to the diner, once I am there we can discuss the best course of action. I will be there in ten minutes.” Colin promised in what seemed to Sally to be a concerned voice.
Unfortunately, for Sally, Colin had also received an invitation to the spa, he had decided to go the day before, but had not said anything to her, as he knew that she would have gone into her full conspiracy mode. When Sally had not shown up at the spa, his controller had contacted Colin and told him to contact Special Agent Mallory, should Sally contact him. When she had done just this, it activated the part of his mind that was under the alien`s control.
He had faked his concern, and he arrived at the diner fifteen minutes later, with Richard Mallory. Sally`s luck had not run out though, as he was five minutes late she had been looking out for Colin, and so she saw the two men as they got out of Colin`s car. Fear bit deeply into Sally`s vitals as she realized that not one but both of her friends had been taken over by the aliens, but she did not allow this fear to paralyse her, she walked quietly into the ladies, it was empty, she now climbed out of her second window of the day. She knew that she had only seconds to escape, she rushed round to her car and jumping in started the engine, thanking her garage for servicing the car the week before, for the car started without any effort. She then pulled back onto the road and sped away through the busy Houston traffic; she was making for a large supermarket, where she would make use of its car park to make yet another call.
Chapter Four
The Texas Rangers
She now did what she should have done so very long ago, she called her Uncle William; Captain Will Rogers was in the Texas Ranger Division, commonly known as the Texas Rangers. He worked out of the Divisional Headquarters of the Texas Rangers, in Austin; he was a member of the Special Operations Group. Sally quickly gave her uncle the highlights, leaving out E.T. of course.
At the other end of the phone Will Rogers listened patiently to his niece, a little surprised by what she said, however, as he had not seen her for some time, four months to be exact, he told her to come over to Austin to tell him again, in person, about her fears. To disregard such information given to him by an intelligent person would be the height of folly, so even though he knew his favourite niece held a few odd views, he thought there might be something that needed investigating. Sally instantly agreed to drive over, happy that someone had finally taken her serious enough to speak to her about it.
It had just started to rain as she left the car park of the supermarket, and extremely heavily, so she put her wipers on, but soon had to adjust their speed to their higher setting. She did not see the Chrysler Rapide do a rapid U-turn and follow after her, the driver had been on the way to a garage, to have some repairs to his car carried out, he now put these off until tomorrow. His commander had just sent out a general instruction, if anyone sighted Sally, he or she was to eliminate her immediately, he knew her and her car by sight, and he saw her exit the car park. Sally was heading towards the highway that would take her to Austin; the easiest way was via the ring road, so she took a left and instantly regretted it, for this road was awash with water, so she cautiously applied her brakes to slow her speed. It was only then that she saw the Chrysler Rapide, she was just about to shrug it off as a coincidence, for there were many Chrysler Rapide`s in Texas. She noticed the vehicle was moving up fast behind her, and then she noticed the large automatic pistol in the driver`s hand. Ahead was a very sharp left that would take her where she was going, but by a long detour, as the Rapide moved ever closer, the automatic pistol already turning in her direction, she swung sharply across the pursuing vehicle and took the left safely, just. The alien clone was taken completely by surprise by her violent manoeuvre, and swore loudly as he automatically braked sharply to avoid crashing into the side of Sally`s car at a speed that would certainly have injured him, for he never wore his seat belt. His car was already beginning to aquaplane in the deep water, because of the sudden use of his brakes, and his faulty ABS system, now as he turned the wheel sharply so as to follow her, his position got worse. He narrowly missed writing off his car as it slid towards a fire hydrant, but he missed it and finally came to a stop when his car slid into a parked van on the right hand side of the road. The alien clone did not stop to exchange insurance details; instead, he turned his vehicle around and made to drive back to the turning that Sally had made. However, he had not had that much practice driving on the busy roads of town; he did not look right as he moved across to the opposite side of the road. A fully loaded juggernaut was driving much too fast along that side of the road, and it ploughed into the side of his vehicle, pushing it along and killing the alien instantly.
Sally heard the crash and wondered about it, she glanced quickly in her rear view mirror and saw it was empty of Chrysler Rapides, and large automatic pistols. She glanced back several more times over the next mile before relief found its way into her mind, then she started the 165 mile long drive to Austin, it took her over three hours, with just one pit stop along the way.
Once she got to her uncle`s office she told him everything, of how a foreign country was working against the USA, of how Richard Mallory, an old Harvard friend, was now an enemy agent, of Colin Braun, and finally of the senior NASA scientists and the administrative personnel who worked in Houston. She did not mention the Chrysler Rapide, if it had been involved in an accident then good, assuming that no innocent parties had been hurt, but she did not want to become embroiled in the matter, she had enough on her mind already.
Although Will thought along the original lines that Mallory had spoken of, how the organisation that Sally spoke about was far too massive to be viable, he still held to his original view that there might be something in her fears. He realized that Sally possessed a vivid imagination, but she was not a cretin, so he decided to take her story to Major Matias Hernandez who commanded the Special Operations Group. Hernandez also thought that her story sounded a little fantastic; however, as Will was taking his niece seriously he decided that they had no choice but to investigate her story.
“Will, as you know Sally better than the rest of us, maybe you ought to check out whether there is something in Sally`s story, or, if she is mistaken in her fears.” Hernandez said and then turned to Sally. “I am sorry for voicing a doubt about your story, Sally, but even you must accept that it does sound a little over the top, a little Hollywood.”
Sally smiled at Hernandez but kept her thoughts to herself, and with the preliminaries over Will took Sally back to his desk, for he saw a look of annoyance appear in her eyes because of Hernandez`s words, before it was quickly smothered.
After getting his niece a coffee, he sat Sally down to talk over their plans for the future. “Sally, we will need to speak with one of the people who you think has been affected in some way, and depending on how that goes will determine just how we proceed from there. If we do suspect him of being brainwashed, then at some time in the future will need to have our psychiatrist check the person over, to see if there is any sign of the person having been hypnotised; or even brainwashed as you fear.” Will explained.
“I suppose either Colin Braun or Richard Mallory would do, Richard is the FBI agent, however both men were part of the aliens` scheme to kidnap me, to st
Will assumed that Sally had meant foreign agent when she had said alien, but thinking back to some of the other times he had met her, he did wonder, just for a guilty moment, if this would turn out to be just another flight of her imagination. However, he was willing to spend tomorrow and maybe the next day looking into it, he thought that he should have a feel for the case by then.
Will gave Sally the keys to his house, and she left him to finish what he had to do while she made dinner for the two of them. She dropped by a large supermarket and purchased the necessary ingredients and then drove on to her uncle`s house to prepare their dinner. They did not speak about her fears that evening; instead, they watched the television.
It was late the next morning that saw Sally and Will heading to Houston, and once in the city of Houston, Will made for Colin`s apartment, for Will had decided to have a look around it, covertly, before meeting with Sally`s suspect. Although he did not have a warrant, as Sally had Colin`s spare key, they would be able to search it without Colin finding out, and it offered them the chance of finding out whether Colin was indeed an enemy agent, assuming that he was foolish enough to leave such proof laying around his apartment. However, they found nothing unusual in the apartment, a few scientific journals, a pile of books on microbiology, a PC, a virtual reality helmet that Colin used with his computer games, there was nothing out of the ordinary anywhere in the apartment. Although they had come up empty handed, Will decided to conceal a small camera with a built-in microphone; he put it inside of an air vent, one that gave them a view of the front room, including the computer screen.
“Sally, it might not be safe for you to return to your own apartment tonight, you could be in danger from whatever group has taken an interest in you, instead we will book into a motel on the outskirts of town.” Will told her. “We might as well leave speaking to Colin until tomorrow morning; tonight we can watch to see if he gives us any leads via our hidden camera.”