I’m on to something big. I can feel it. China, USA and Russia has been cutting down their military for the last two years. They have recycled many of their carriers, planes and tanks. Shut down outpost and bases. A complete nuclear disarmament, and they have put extreme pressure to get other nations to do the same. About 90% of the worlds total forces were disarmed. All conflicts has stopped. Refusal meant they would be quickly exterminated by the full force of the top three militaries on the planet.
Why? Nobody knows.
Most people are happy that money and resources are no longer being wasted on stupid things like war. Only the media is grumbling that nothing is happening anymore. The military has always been wasting money on secret projects but this is on a whole other level. My discoveries shows that in fact more than ever, they are dumping money into some kind of black hole.
What? Nobody knows.
I mentioned that they cut down on their military in the beginning, however they didn’t fire anyone, the personnel has just vanished. Not just the soldiers but all kinds personnel. They have in fact been recruiting more than ever. Experts from all kinds of different fields have been secretly disappearing over the past two years. Even things like famous leaders of tech companies suddenly disappearing, just to reappear a few months later, claiming they have been on a vacation, but then refusing to go into any details about it.
Where? Nobody knows.
I say nobody, but I might have the answer.
I managed to get access to a certain satellite, and I searched for a long time with it. One day I saw something suspicious in the siberian tundra in Russia.
A truck convoy. Why would there be a truck convoy going into nowhere? I followed them until they suddenly vanished. I was truly shocked. I quickly checked for errors on my side but couldn’t find anything so I kept looking at that same spot. After a few boring hours, I saw movement again. A truck convoy leaving.
One that just happened to have the same amount of trucks as the last one. Was it just a coincidence? Why did it suddenly appear? Was there something blocking my satellite vision? I had many questions but no clear answers. I decided to take a gamble on this place and started a long term surveillance.
During the several days I was watching the place I saw many truck convoys entering and leaving. This amount of traffic was clearly suspicious. Had it been a few years ago one could have assumed it to be another secret project by the military but now, after they disarmed so much of their military and shut down so many bases...
Well, it once again raised many questions. Was it some private company, terrorist base or maybe ex military upset about the recent budget cuts? I began spotting different vehicles too. Busses and several army non combat vehicles, like jeeps. What were they transporting? People?
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. I was still watching the same spot. The traffic continued, always vanishing in the same area. Around this time I started noticing the disappearance of high profile people, and after that I looked a bit deeper and saw tons of people asking about people they knew just disappearing.
Most of them were in the army but some were just normal developers, programmers, architects, electricians, plumbers etc, things you need for building something big. People disappear all the time, but at this amount and timing?
I managed to get access to some of the budgets of several countries, and surprisingly even after the massive cuts on military they still take up a large portion of the budget. No, in fact after comparing it to other years, the total budget has shrunk. How can that be? Being at peace shouldn’t make it worse. Unless something in secret was draining funds, an enormous amount of it. Large enough to affect the global economy.
I tried to poke at my contacts but I got no real answer from them. Either they didn’t know or they were just lying to me.
That’s about how far I have currently gotten with my investigation. Most people would laugh at me, saying I should wear a tinfoil hat, but I know something is going on.
My day job as an electrician is taking most of my time, but today I’m going to see if I can get a job in the military. They are as I said, recruiting. I’m hoping I will get transferred to the siberian base or another similar base that I haven't discovered yet, but it’s not the end of the world if it don’t. Having access to all kinds of wires in the military will be a good enough start.
The sun shined on the quiet neighborhood. Inside the white painted house, sitting by his work desk was the man known as Adam Hunter. He closed the laptop, rubbed his tired eyes and threw a quick look at the clock on the wall. He had to leave in 1 hour and had alot to prepare. He had been writing on his conspiracy blog. It was a blog that wrote about all kinds of things that he thought were suspicious, anonymously of course. It had a small but dedicated following of like minded people. He hadn't discovered anything on his own yet, only double checking other peoples work.
This was the first time that he had something unique going on, which meant he wanted to do it properly. He had always wanted to become a journalist or a writer and this was his big chance. He hadn’t actually posted any of the information about it online yet because he wanted to make a big post when he solved it. Posting while investigating might not be such a good idea anyway, because they would discover that he was watching them and could change location, tactics or something like that which meant he would had to start over again.
Of course that would have been the least of his problems if they knew he was on to them. Something that caused them to disarm to such extent and go to such extremes to keep it secret meant that they had no problems simply removing a snooping person from the equation.
After preparing the papers he needed for the interview, he set up the usual traps, just like he did every time he left the house. A piece of hair between the door and the frame, slightly visible from the outside so one could see if the door had been opened or not.
A newspaper on the floor with a tiny stone, the size of something that can get stuck in your shoe, right next to it. He also had several items in the house that he had placed at very specific locations or angles, like the angle of the toilet door. He had vacuumed the carpets backwards to see if anyone stepped on them. He also locked his important items into a safe.
It was hard work but if he didn’t do it, he would think about it constantly, completely consuming his mind. He would make sure to never repeat made that mistake again.
He grabbed his favorite hat and put on his trench coat before sneaking out of the house through the window like usual. As a bonus he rarely had to reset the front door trap because he never used that door. The window had a hair trap too.
He opened the garage door and walked in. The walls and corners were filled with all kinds of tools any homeowner needed to take care of their old house. He did a routine check under his white Volvo 240 for any tracking or listening devices. Satisfied, he got into the car and drove off.
“That ice cream truck is here again, coincidence? I think not.” Adam mumbled to himself while driving. It was clearly suspicious.
He arrived at the location 10 minutes early. It was a tall building, with a glass curtain wall. He entered through the automatic doors and saw a younger pretty brunette at the receptionist desk. He debated talking to her, maybe using the ‘asking for directions’ trick as an excuse, but decided not to.
Who knows who she is really working for, he thought. Besides, she is way out of my league.
Adam Hunter was afterall a slightly overweight man in his forties, with an ever decreasing amount of brown hair on his head. That was part of the reason he dressed the way he did, the other was because he thought it looked cool and it was a good way to disguise himself. He had an average face, with a bit of black stubble.
He had received the directions in the e-mail, so he knew where he needed to go. He took the elevators to the fifth floor. The meeting was going to be in a large conference room. Before the individual interviews there was going to be a group information meeting.
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It was a large room, easily enough for thirty people, with a grey carpet on the floor. He sat down on one of the black leather chairs, next to the large wooden table in the middle. He wasn’t the first to arrive, there were already about ten others before him and he didn’t know how many more would come.
A few minutes later, the time for the meeting to start had arrived, however except for a few more applicants, there was no sign of the actual people in charge.
He was about to open his mouth to ask if anyone knew anything, when the door suddenly opened.
Three men and one female entered and assembled at the end of the room. They were wearing different types of army clothes. Two of the males were wearing the typical combat camouflage uniform, the other two had their service uniforms on, filled with medals and such. The two men in camouflage stood in the back, observing the applicants.
Why are they in uniform, he thought, before he remembered he was applying for a job at the military. Guess they must always use a uniform.
The man with the fancy uniform spoke first.
“Welcome everybody, to this recruitment meeting. I am General O’Neill. Before we start with the individual interviews I have some things I must inform you of. What we seek is no ordinary people. They must not be afraid to travel far away and be gone for several years at a time. You must be be willing to sacrifice everything for this job. Anyone that has things that ties them down, like family and kids, should most likely avoid this job.”
He paused for a moment.
Damn, a General! For a little meeting like this, Adam thought to himself.
“I’m not the one that usually leads this meeting so, I’ll just let her continue from here.”
“Thank you, General. I am Major Ash. The General had some time over so he decided to pay a visit to this little meeting. However, don’t let him scare you. But he isn’t wrong. This isn’t a normal job. This job requires the highest level of secrecy and dedication.”
After a dramatic pause she continued, and turned her serious face into a smiling one.
“Now, if you still feel like joining then please prepare your papers and follow me to the individual interview rooms.”
The people at the table exchanged glances, checking if anyone wanted to leave. No one did.
Major Ash walked out, and the group followed her. Less than a minute later they arrived at yet another waiting room. It was rectangular in shape, had plenty of chairs to wait in and on the longer walls were four doors.
“The first selection will take place here. Just enter through one of the doors and do as told. Only one person may enter at the same time.”
With that, Major Ash, General O’Neill and the two, that looked like bodyguards, left the applicants alone.
Adam was right next to one of the doors and could immediately enter without waiting. Inside was a laptop standing on a simple desk and two chairs. Behind the desk was a middle aged woman with black hair.
“Welcome, please take a sit.”
Adam sat down on the hard wooden chair. He tried to find a comfortable position, and just as he found one, she said:
“Can I see your ID and CV, please?”
Adam quickly got up again and handed it over. She typed the information into the laptop.
“Hmm, electrician. Yes, we are recruiting those. No family or other relatives. Good...”
After a few basic questions Adam was told that he had passed the first selection. All in all it took less than three minutes.
“Now, take this.” She handed him a small plastic coin. “Show it on the next stage. It’s on the fourth level. Now, let the next person in.”
Adam looked at the small coin. It had what looked like a spear symbol on it. He left through the door, slightly confused about the whole situation.
“Next person may enter now.” Adam said.
“What was it like?” A man with a suit on asked.
“Just a few questions.” He pondered whether to mention the coin but decided not to. It might be important and therefore best kept secret.
They really made this more complicated than it needed. What’s up with this coin?
He made it to the elevators and went down to the fourth floor. When the elevator door opened, he saw a big sign with an arrow pointing to the left.
He followed the arrows, sometimes a new one came up and pointed him in another direction.
He finally reached the end but there was a guard standing there. One that looked familiar.
Adam approached the guard. When he got closer, the guard suddenly raised his right hand in a ‘halt’ gesture. The guard then raised his left hand, in a ‘give me’ gesture.
Adam was confused once again. The guard wanted something?
It took a few seconds before he realized that it must be the coin.
He took it out from his front right pant pocket and placed it in the guard’s hand.
The guard looked at it for a second or two before he handed it back to Adam.
The guard knocked on the door.
“Come in.” A voice from inside said.
The guard opened the door and gestured for Adam to get inside, something he gladly did. The whole gesturing without speaking was starting to creep him out.
Inside was a table with two familiar people sitting behind it. Another familiar guard was standing in the corner.
“Ah, welcome. What is your name?” General O’Neill said, which caused the female Major on his side to frown.
“Ad-” Was all Adam managed to get out before he got interrupted.
“Oh, sorry. Hehe, I forgot I’m just here to observe.” The General said with a laugh.
“No worries, General. Please continue.” She said with a nod towards Adam.
“A-Adam Hunter. At your service...” He said nervously. The pressure from standing just a few meters away from real soldiers were quite significant, especially for someone like Adam, who spends most of his days searching for classified information.
“Please relax. We just have some questions.” She typed the info into her laptop and took a look at his file.
“Electrician, great. After the accident we-... I mean…”
*cough*
She pressed the red button on her desk, and the lights went out.
“Oh, no! The light went out.” She made a fainting gesture with her hand on the forehead. “If only there was someone that could fix it.”
Adam couldn’t believe what just happened. The pressure was immediately gone, and he understood that they were testing him. She said something about an accident? He probably wasn’t meant to hear that, and his test changed drastically as a result.
“So, you want me to fix the lights?”
“Indeed. The fusebox is over there.” She pointed at a grey box on the wall. “There is a ladder over there, for the lights.” She pointed at the corner by the guard.
Adam got to work. He was used to this kind of work. After about twenty minutes, he had fixed the problem and changed the light bulbs.
“Impressive. Very well. You are hired. You will leave tomorrow. Pack lightly, clothes and other necessities will be provided on location.”
Adam was startled. He got the job so easy and quickly. However, he quickly recovered and remembered his original purpose.
With a serious face he said “Where am I going?”
“You don’t need to know.” She said bluntly. “Now, others are waiting to get in. So if you would…”
Adam said his goodbyes and left the building, and drove home in his 240.
Back home, he immediately started writing again.
I did it! I got the job. I’m leaving tomorrow. I don’t know where I’m going but to make sure no ‘accident’ will silence me, I’m going to set up a time triggered email to a few people I trust. If I don’t reset it once a week it will send out everything I have so far. If you are reading this then...
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