Early looked at the young army lieutenant, only attached to the group three months. "I know exactly what you mean, I'll feel better when we have it all safely at the new complex."

Early hadn't been bothered by the corpses as much as he had been downright afraid of that goddamn empty ten-foot-by-ten-foot container, or cage, as the rumors were saying. Lee had tried to keep the lid on all the talk going around, but what they were carrying to Nevada would haunt anyone who was there for many years to come. For Early, it was the image of that cage that kept slipping back into his thoughts like the flitting remembrance of a nightmare; he closed his eyes as he tried in vain to control a shiver.

"Who in the hell is this?" the lieutenant asked aloud.

Early opened his eyes and looked at the army officer. He watched as the man placed the radio handset down and pulled a Colt .45 automatic from the holster he carried on his belt.

Early looked up through the windshield and was shocked to see three men dressed in black. He narrowed his vision and adjusted the fit of his glasses in an attempt to peer through the sand that was washing across the side of the road.

"Are they wearing hoods and goggles?" he asked, but the lieutenant had already opened the door, allowing the howl of the wind to take the doctor's question and scatter it among the blowing sand.

"This is a United States government convoy. You men--"

That was as far as the young lieutenant got. As Early watched in horror, a black-clad man in the center of the three strangers raised what looked like a Thompson submachine gun and fired a burst of three rounds into the upper body of the army officer, slamming him first into the doorjamb and then to the roadway. The wind quickly took away the mist of blood that had exploded out of the lieutenant's back.