Uninvited: A Paranormal Urban Fantasy Novel (The Dark Skies Trilogy Book Two) Read Online Free Page A

coordinator.”
    The red head, and only woman in the group, steps up. Despite her delicate features and long curly red hair, she has the air of a kickass career military officer. “My name is Marissa Simmons. I handle weapons and tactical coordination.”
    The silent bald giant leaning on the table on the edge of the bubble steps forward. “O’Malley. Head of security.”
    The big guy’s clearly a man of few words.
    I nod and reply in my polite voice, “Nice to meet you all.”
    Fitz has had enough of the polite introductions. “Okay, now that you’ve met my crack crew, let’s get to work. Where are we on pinpointing the location of the exchange?”
    “Our latest intel says we’re looking for a place —” Simmons reads from a piece of paper. “— where the clouds hang low and airplanes fear to tread.”
    “That’s Putnam Pointe.” Chad immediately recognizes the name.
    “And how exactly do you know that?” O’Malley asks Chad, sounding skeptical and generally annoyed to have us three in his photon dome.
    “I grew up about ten minutes from here. My dad is a park ranger,” Chad explains. “If you’re looking for a place where airplanes fear to tread out in Flat Ridge Canyon then it must be Putnam Pointe. And it’s not just that they fear to tread. It’s illegal. I’m pretty sure the whole area is a no-fly zone.”
    “Putnam Pointe?” Ruby also grew up in Ocean Grove. “Isn’t that area supposed to be contaminated or something.”
    Chad nods solemnly. “The whole area is at the base of the deepest canyon. It’s all fenced off, and there are radioactive warning signs everywhere.”
    Fitz’s crew scrambles to locate this area on their maps.
    “I believe I saw something notated on one of the satellite images,” Simmons replies, pulling up a series of dark photos on her tablet. “It said it’s a hazardous waste storage facility.”
    “Putnam Pointe used to be some sort of military base,” Chad explains, “Then it was turned into a huge nuclear fallout shelter in the 50s.”
    “My grandpa said people were super worried about nuclear war back in the day,” Ruby tells us. “After all, California isn’t that far from the east coast of Russia.”
    Tanaka adds, “The Putnam Pointe Army base was meant to house thousands of people. But eventually, the government turned it into a radioactive waste storage facility back in the 70s.”
    “It’s a pretty remote location, nestled deep in one of the valleys,” Chad continues. “I’ve hiked out there, and it’s pretty heavily guarded by the army or someone.”
    “No,” O’Malley scowls and shakes his head firmly. “There’s shouldn’t be any military personnel out there. It’s been out of commission for twenty years. At least.”
    “Mister, I’m just telling you what I’ve seen,” Chad contradicts scary O’Malley. “And I’ve seen guards out there.”
    The adults exchange looks, and Fitz says, “Interesting. Pull up the current satellite images.”
    Fingers flying, Tanaka types into his keyboard eventually bringing up a grainy black and white satellite video on his laptop. “Looks like the kid is right.” Tanaka points to tiny moving dots on the satellite. “Someone’s out there.”
    “If it’s Horlocks and Grails, we can expect them to be armed to the teeth,” O’Malley says darkly. “It’s not going to be easy to get in there when they make the handoff.”
    “How do we make our approach,” Simmons asks.
    Tanaka shakes his head. “No matter which way we approach, they’re going to see us. From their point of view, this is a very secure location.”
    “What about the back entrance?” Chad tentatively offers.
    “Back entrance?” Fitz asks.

Chapter 5
    “ T here’s no way a backdoor exists." Tanaka studies the schematics and shakes his head. “Any alternate entrance would have been barricaded decades ago.”
    "Except I've seen it,” Chad argues. “With my own eyes.”
    “When?” Fitz asks, his interest more