We turned right. Larry drove through about fifty meters of trees and then up to a gate with a little push-button speaker at window height and rolled down his window. Before Larry had a chance to do or say anything the speaker buzzed, 'Can I help you?'
'Uh, yes, Larry Waterford and Steven Montana here for a meeting.' Larry looked a little nervous.
'Pull right and park in front of the guard center, then come inside. Have your identification and rental car registration available please.' The guy on the other end was all business. No howdy, nice to see ya, please come back or anything.
The guard shack was a typical guard shack, as far as I could tell. The fellows behind the desk were packing serious heat and were all wearing rent-a-cop-type outfits. Larry and I filled out a couple forms, showed off our driver's licenses, and then Larry and the guard discussed clearance transfers and stuff that I wasn't quite sure I understood. They handed us each a badge; Larry's was a different color than mine. He didn't tell me why.
A few minutes later our point of contact on the inside of CIA Headquarters called the guard shack and told them we could come in and which building to drive to. We parked where we were told and then walked what seemed to be about a damn mile across the campus and through a parking garage before we got to the main building.
Inside the main building was exactly like you see in the movies. There was a big Central Intelligence Agency symbol in the middle of the floor under a huge skylight. Larry showed me the memorial with no names on it. It was all like I had seen it before; I guess I had, on television. There was even a gift shop. I started to buy a CIA shot glass, but Larry told me that I couldn't acknowledge that I had been there.
Then we went through the metal detectors and swiped our badges. The guard there informed Larry that he or another cleared individual would have to escort me wherever I went. Larry affirmed that he knew that.
Larry left me with an 'examiner' and said he would be back later. The rest of the morning was me answering a bunch of questions—questions I'm not supposed to repeat—both written and verbally, inside a special room. Then I took a polygraph exam and that seemed to last forever. A few hours of that and Larry returned. We then reversed the process we had been through that morning and left CIA for the day.
'What'd you think about that?' he grinned.
'That was pretty neat. We're coming back here tomorrow, right?'
'Yep. We'll eat lunch there at the cafeteria. That is always a hoot. Tomorrow we will be here all day. Hey, we got the rest of the afternoon off; you want to see Robert E. Lee's house and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?'
'Got nothing else to do,' I replied.
The next day was the same process. We went up the G.W. to McLean and so on. Again I was given a different color badge than Larry was.
'Clearance takes time, Steve. Don't fret it.' Larry assured me. Unfortunately, the weather was not as good as it had been the day before and the long walk from the parking lot was more of a trot. We did maximize our path through the parking garage to stay out of the rain as much as possible.
The same guard told Larry the same thing about having to escort me. So Larry told him the same thing in response, 'I know.'
This time we didn't go to the same place Larry took me the day before. Today we went down several different hallways and I was completely lost. We finally got to a room just down the hall from a big sign saying
We were told where the restrooms were and shown the vending machines. Larry got a cup of coffee so I followed suit. A few moments passed and the young lady at the door told us we could go in. Larry paused to speak with her.
'The package we sent up here, is it in there already?' Larry shrugged his shoulders, then straightened his tie.
'Yes, Mr. Waterford, the papers and slides you sent are here and are already in there.' She pointed her pen behind her at the door.
'Thanks.' He turned to me, 'Okay, Steve, jump in whenever, but don't make a nuisance of yourself. If we ask you to step out for a bit, don't be upset; it will just be necessary. Got it?' He pointed to my tie and motioned to fix it.
'Okay. I got it.' I fixed my tie and my shirttail.
Then we entered the SCIF.
CHAPTER 8
'So that is how we got the QCCPUs to teleport data back and forth between each other,' I summarized. The Air Force general, General Clemons, seemed very intrigued throughout my presentation. I could've sworn that I'd seen her somewhere before. She looked to be in her mid to late forties, was very athletic looking, and had bright strawberry-red hair. She spoke in a Southern accent of some sort. I didn't know that they made attractive generals.
'Jim, what do you think of this?' General Clemons asked.
'Well, if you ask me, and you did,' Dr. Daniels replied, 'it's a damned shame that we only were told about all this a short time ago or we would have been at least this far already! I can even perceive us having prevented the war with knowledge of a larger threat to force us to act together instead of against each other.' Dr. Jim Daniels oozed confidence in himself, probably because he was handsome and, from the looks of it, extremely physically fit, with a chiseled jaw and short crop of sandy brown hair. I wouldn't have pegged him for some kind of super genius.
Then one of the other suits in the room interrupted. 'Harumph, uh, Dr. Daniels please let me remind you that this conversation is at Top Secret only!'
