The next day Denise woke in a beautiful French Provincial bed. At first she did not know where she was. Then it came back to her she playing spy again in the Congo of all places. She rose and realized that all the wine she had, had with dinner had not been the best thing for her. She picked up the phone and it was answered at once. She asked for room service. Waiting for a second the phone was answered again, by the room service waiter. She ordered a pot of coffee American style and a bottle of aspirin. The waiter said it would be up in less then five minutes. Denise then moved into the wash room and splashed some water on her face. Then putting on a robe she walked out into the sitting room. She opened the French doors to the balcony and took a deep breath. Moving out on to the balcony she sat waiting for the coffee. The sun was nice on her face and she almost fell back asleep. She was brought back to life by a knock on the door. She moved to the door and asked who it was. The voice said room service. She opened the door to find a French waiter with a dolly. On it was a pot of coffee, two cups, and milk and sugar. She signed the bill and gave the waiter a five dollar US. tip. He thanked her profusely and walked out. Denise poured herself a coffee and went back out to the balcony.

There balcony was looking towards the airport, and she just happened to be looking as the mobile lab took off on it search. Just then Dave came out of the other bedroom and Denise said,

"There is coffee on the table and I am out here on the balcony. if you hurry you can see the others going out on their search." Dave did not feel much like hurrying but thought it wise to see the plane off. He quickly poured himself a coffee and made his way out to the balcony. The plane was just getting altitude and was moving off to the northwest. Denise looked up at him and said,

"How do you feel today?"

"Like I was kicked in the head by a mule. How about you?"

"Well lets put it this way for a country that was developed and has close ties to France it has terrible wine."

"Yes I know what you mean, they had no Rye last night so I drank beer. What a mistake that was."

"There are some aspirin on the dolly if you need them."

"Yes I grabbed some. Have you heard from the others yet?"

"No and I think we should wake them up, though by the way they were looking at each other last night I don't know how much sleep they got."

"Yes I noticed that, but they did go up to there room early, maybe they did get some sleep." At that moment they heard Good morning. Looking over to the other balcony they could just see Suzanne through the trellis of flowers. Denise said,

"We were just talking about you. Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Yes of course what ever are you implying," and then she laughed.

"Yah, right. We have a pot of coffee if you what to come over and have a cup. It actually is not bad."

"OK, just let me through on some clothes." Peeking through the flowers, Dave said,

"Why are you running around naked over there?"

"Well maybe?" Then Suzanne walked back into their suite. Darren was just coming out of the bathroom and had obviously just had a shower. Suzanne said,

"We have been invited next door to coffee on the balcony. I am just going to have a quick shower and get dressed then I will be ready." Darren nodded and sat down in the lounge area of the suite.

Suzanne was ready in less than five minutes and they went to the other suite. Suzanne poured a coffee while Darren got on the phone and called down to room service again. He orders a pitcher of juice and a platter of fresh fruit and croissants. Suzanne said,

"Get another pot of coffee." He orders that also and walked out onto the balcony. He sat down beside Suzanne, and Denise said,

"I just saw the others take off. I hope things are going well with their search. I would hate to have to waste my time at this party searching for little gray man from out space."

Breakfast arrived and they all ate some fruit and croissants. They did not have anything to do that day, so no one was really in a hurry to get going. They finished their breakfast and Suzanne and Darren went on a walking tour of Brazzaville. Walking through the town they saw all of the Old French architecture. Around lunchtime they stopped at a little French cafe. They got a table outside and enjoyed the sunshine. Having a light lunch they talked about what to expect at the party. The afternoon was very pleasant but they eventually had to head back to the hotel.

Team Two had lifted off early as they were heading to the furthest north section of all their sections to be survey. They got to the area and started their search. The runs were very close together as the sensor equipment was not as sensitive as they had hoped. They had to figure the base was hidden both physically as well as by electronic jamming. The morning went along and nothing happened. There was not even a slight hint of a base. They had to go back to the airfield at lunchtime in order to refuel. They got back to the airfield and Maureen went and got them lunch, She went to an open market and picked up bread and some cold meats. Then she found a small cafe and got a couple of bottles of wine. She then headed back to the airfield. On her way back she thought she was being followed. She did not try to lose them, but did go right back to the plane.

When she got back to the plane she went right to the security center. She tried to find the man she thought had been following her. They could not pick up anyone that resembled the man she described. Christine and Graham just chalked it up to an over active imagination. They then ate their lunch and talked about where they should search next. After lunch they loaded up the plane and headed back out.

This time after about two hours of searching they got a weak signal from deeper into the Dukes lands. Though they stayed on their course and the signal quickly disappeared. Christine marked it on the map for future reference. That was all that happened that day, so they flew back to the airfield at Brazzaville. Went they landed and taxied to there spot that had been assigned to them they found the two inspectors waiting for them. Graham got out to talk to them when they had come to a stop.

He said,

"Gentlemen how are you today?"

"This is not a social call we are answering a complaint from Duke Rowbuc's estate. They say that you were flying over his lands, if we have another complaint about you we will have to do something about it."

"Did you explain to him what we were doing out there?"

"Yes we did sir, but he did not care. He would rather have his privacy then an oil well."

"OK guys, we will stay away from his lands."

"That would be wise sir as he said he would have to shoot you down if he found you over his lands again."

"Can he do that? It is not legal is it?"

"Well yes he can, he can do almost anything on his lands."

"Thank you gentlemen," then Graham handed each one another $500.00 and went back into the plane.

Once back in the plane he said,

"We have a problem. Duke Rowbuc has threatened to shoot us down if we fly over his lands again. The inspectors that I just talked to said he would probably get away with it to." The group did not sleep well that night and everyone was up and checking the security at least once though out the night. In the morning they had breakfast and sat down to decided what they were going to do. Graham said,

"I am for going on with the search and see what happens. If things get out of hand we can always just get out of there."

"Sounds OK by me," said Christine.

"Wait a minute this man has threatened to shoot us out of the sky and he probably has the ability to do it," said Maureen.

"Well if you want you can stay here but we would like to take Jeniffer, Angie, Denzel and Chico."

"No you can't they could all be destroyed by one luck shot of a missile or a burst from a machine gun."

"You are right, but wasn't that what they were created, to go into battle."

"Yes your right but that was before that alien did something to them. I have been studying them since then and I believe he has put back apart of there soul maybe even all of it. They can still be programmed with skills, but they can not be programmed to do anything immoral. So you can not just take them into danger you should ask them." At that moment Mil came in, and Graham said,

"Mil what exactly did you do when you had your little circle with the light show at the base in Ottawa."

"I told you I gave them back a portion of their life energy."

"Yes I know that but what I need to know is how human are they."

"Well minus the implants they would be about as human as you were before your whole brain was activated."

Graham nodded and said,

"OK Maureen, let's call them in and give them a voice in what we are doing." Graham then moved to the communication center and called in the guards. In a couple of minutes they were all together in the small conference room. Graham said,

"It has come to my attention that Professor Brown feels you should be given more of a say in what we are doing. She says we should draw on your experience and knowledge." He then went on and briefed them on what had happened and what there operation was.

Jeniffer said,

"We are soldiers and we follow orders, that does not mean that we want to walk into a machine gun while everyone else sneaks in the back way. We want to live as much as anyone else. Your plan to go in and continue the search is risky but I can only see one other way and I don't know if we have the capabilities. We could tap into the NSA's spy satellite and get it to look for us."

"Amazing, why didn't we think of that? Christine why don't you and the Professor take Jeniffer and see if you can tap into the satellite."

Christine then sent Denzel and Chico back out on to patrol while Angie went back to the monitoring station. Christine and Jeniffer stayed in the conference room and pulled out a laptop and started to break into the NSA's spy satellite control center. This took them only a couple of hours and they hand complete control of the satellite they moved it over the north west section of the Congo. The images they were pulling up on the screen were amazing considering how far in space they were. They changed the filter system on the satellite and started to look for the Greys base. With the satellite the hardest part was narrowing it down once they did find something. They did find something not one but two separate bases. Zooming in on the first one they found it to be right under Duke Rowbuc's chateau. There seemed to be some sort of cave system under the house and that was where the base was located. The second base was much bigger and was located far to the north but still on the Duke's property. Christine called Graham and the others in and showed them what they had found.

Maureen said,

"See and we did not have to get shot at."

"OK so you were right. Now what are we going to do?" Denzel said,

"We should gather as much information on the two sights. Then as team one is going to the chateau anyway they should investigate that one while we go to the northern one. We can land outside of the Duke's lands and make our way in on foot."

"Sounds good to me. Any way that gets things done with out me being shot at is the best way," said Maureen. Christine said,

"I will download all the information we find to team one." This basically took the rest of the day, but by the time they were done they had a pretty good idea of the layout of both bases.

They then met in the conference room to plan out their attack on the base. Maureen said,

"What are we going to do when we get there?"

"Well," said Christine, "If it is there virus lab then we will get as much information on what they are doing, then we will destroy the place."

"Yes but how?"

"I think we need to blow it up. Do we have enough explosives?" Graham shook his head no.

"But if we put the explosives around some sort power plant that should take out the base." Maureen said,

"That sounds a little dangerous we do not know what kind of power they use." Then all the people at the table looked at Mil. He said,

"I can not tell you anything about it that would be a breach of our agreement. You have not freed all the scout ships yet."

"Yes we understand that. We don't want to know how to build one just what will happen if it blows up."

"That would be giving you to much information."

"Oh great, now we have to decide what we are going to do? Should we blow the place up or not."

"I think we should be prepared to do that but make our final decision when we get there," said Denzel.

They planned their assault well into the night.

The next day the team was getting ready to leave when Jeniffer noticed that Mil was missing. They searched the plane and the surrounding area. There was no sign of him. They then went to the security tapes of the night before to see if they could see anything. The tape did not show anything out of the normal. He asked the guards who had been or patrol that night if anything out of the ordinary had happened? Angie said,

"At one point during the night, I saw what could have been an energy cloud, or a couple of dozen other things for that matter. That is why I did not think much of it."

"Why would he have left us like this? Could it be our plan to blow up the power plant, or is it something else? God, if I see him again I am going to give him a piece of my mind," said Christine.

"I am going to contact team one and see if he is with them. Maybe he wanted to give them some information or something?" said Graham. He then got on his cell phone and called Suzanne's cell phone. Darren answered and Graham explained why he was calling. Darren told him that he had not seen Mil since they left the plane. Graham then asked whether they had received the information on the base under the Chateau. Darren said,

"They would look into it at there first chance." Graham said,

"OK, I will get back to you if we find out anything about Mil. We are moving on our base either today or tomorrow. Hopefully we will see you back in Brazzaville in a couple of days."

"Good luck and we will see you when we see you." Graham hung up and told the others that team one had not seen Mil. He is gone.

Darren rolled over and nudged Suzanne awake. She opened her eyes and said,

"What's up?" Darren smiled, then he got serious and said,

"Mil is missing. Team two does not know if he left or was taken some how?"

"Is everything still a go?"

"Yes, we can not hold off, we can not give them any more time then is absolutely necessary to prepare."

"I will call the others and set up a breakfast meeting, so we can get ready to leave." She called over to the other room and got Denise. They arranged to meet in twenty minutes in Darren and Suzanne's room for breakfast. Suzanne then called down to the desk and ordered breakfast. She then called down to the desk and ordered a Land Rover for them to drive out to the Chateau in. After that the two of them got out of bed and went and had a shower. It lasted a little longer then they had planned and Denise and Dave were banging on the bathroom door. They quickly got out of the shower and got dressed. Coming out to the lounge they were both a little red faced.

They had their breakfast in the lounge and looked over a map they had on how to get to the Chateau. The trip was well marked and would not take more then about four hours. They had finished breakfast and were packing up when the phone rang. It was the front desk. Their Land Rover was ready. Suzanne told them they would be holding on to the rooms until they came back. They then grabbed their bags and headed down to the Land Rover. Loading it up they started on their way. Once they got out of town and onto the road to the Chateau it was pretty smooth ride. The road was a dirt road but well maintained.

Driving through the rainforest was a fascinating experience for the Canadians who had never seen anything like this. The foliage was completely different from anything they had ever seen before. There were plants of every different size and shape and the different shades of green were remarkable. On the map had been marked a couple of spots of interest along the route. They came to the first one about an hour out of the city. It was a clearing with a little pool in it. It said in the pamphlet that if they sat there very quietly they might see a leopard that used this watering hole for hunting and water.

The group sat there for about an hour waiting to see if anything would show. A small rodent came down to the watering hole and was having a drink. In a blink of an eye it was in the mouth of the leopard. The cat had come out of a tree above where the rodent had been. It probably killed it when it jumped on it. The savagery of the attack was amazing to the city dwellers and they were fascinated by the whole seen. The leopard was beautiful it was jet black with large golden eyes. They did not want to leave but they had been there to long as it was.

They started on there way again and to make up time they did not stop at the second point marked on the map. When they came to the third one everyone was getting a little restless so they decided to get out and stretch there legs. This point was not on the road but about a fifteen-minute hike up a well-marked path. They walked for about fifteen minutes, then as they came around a corner of rock they saw it. It was a spot out of a fairy tale. Water falls with a small pool around the bottom of it. There was a mist over the water from the falls. The water was a green blue that they could not describe. Suzanne bent down and put her hand in it. It was warm and inviting after being stuck in a car for the last couple of hours. She said,

"Do you think it is safe?" Dave looked at the map and said,

"It says this spot is a good spot to cool off so I would assume that means it is safe to swim." At that Suzanne looked at the others, then pulled her shirt off. Darren quickly followed. The two were in the water before anything else could be said. Dave looked at Denise and said,

"If you want to go behind some bushes I will keep a watch for you."

"I guess a swim would be nice," and she ducked into some bushes. She through her clothes up on the bushes and then ran into the water. All Dave saw were two very white bum cheeks. Then it was Dave's turn he did not worry about the bushes.

They were all in the pool swimming and splashing for who knows how long when Denise said,

"We should be getting back on the road soon. We still have a little way to go before we get to the Chateau." Everyone agreed and they all got out and got dressed. Making there way back to the car it was starting to get dark. They got back onto the road and made as good a time as possible in the fading light.

The light did not make much of a difference because, 10 minutes down the road they came to the gate. A guard quickly rushed out and asked to see their invitations. Denise smiled at him and handed him an envelope with four invitations in it. He looked at them then checked them against his list. All the names were on it so he let them go. The gate as they drove through looked to be from a castle. There was a guardhouse built right into it and it was at least 15 feet thick. The stone structure also looked to be very old. They drove for about another half an hour on a brick road wide enough for two cars to pass each other. From what they could see the lawns on both sides of the road were perfectly kept and there were streetlights on both sides of the road.

They came to a wall of trees and drove through it for a few minutes. When they came out of the forest they could not believe their eyes. There sprawling in front of them was the Chateau. It was all light up and looked to be right out of the French countryside. The Chateau was huge at least 200 rooms. It had the lay out of a giant 'H'. As they drove up to the front gate they could see that the stone work was of the highest quality. Every where the Chateau spoke of the highest quality workman ship. As they pulled up to the large circular drive in the front of the house a group of servants came out. Suzanne stopped the Land Rover in front of the door and they all got out. The servants at once started to take the bags to their assigned rooms. A woman stepped forward and said,

"Welcome to the home of Duke Rowbuc and the Princess Hei Chi Lin. My name is Marsha and I am here to make sure your stay is as pleasant as possible. Your rooms have been prepared." She was a very petite girl of Indian decent. Though her education had obviously been British from both her accent and her mannerisms. The grouped looked around at the beautiful house and out on to the grounds. Darren asked about two building he saw off in the distance. One was a lovely Ornately built single story dwelling that looked as if it were for the servants. The other was of the same stone but was not so interact. Marsha said,

"The plainer one is the servants quarters, while the other is the Dukes Museum. I am sure if you show any interest in the occult or extraterrestrial the Duke would be more then happy to show you around it."

"That is very interesting, we would love to see his collection." said Suzanne.

They walked in through the ten feet tall double doors that looked to be made of brass. Then they were in a large entrance hall who's ceiling was at least three stories above them. The walls were all covered with paintings of men and women.

"These are painting of all of the Dukes relatives. The family goes back to the early 1400's in France. The Dukes family was even related to Napoleon Bonapart. The Duke is very proud of his family history and it's past glories." They then headed up the stairs to the second floor. Walking in to a hall the group just stopped. There, lining the walls were suits of armor from all ages and both the French and Chinese cultures. Marsha said,

"Each of the Dukes must have a set of armor for certain family ceremonies. This is the collection of those suits of armor. As I mentioned earlier the Duke is very proud of his family tree." They continued down the hall and Marsha showed them into a sitting room. She said,

"This will be your suite while you are with us. There are four bedrooms, which you can use as you please. Breakfast will be served in the main dinning room from 8AM until 11AM. Lunch will be from 12 noon until 3PM and of course the party will start at 6PM. If there is anything you need in the mean time there is a buzzer here on the table. Please stay away from the outside windows and doors as they will be locked as of 11:30PM if you open them you will set off an alarm. If you wish fresh air while you sleep the climate controls can be set for that. Does anyone have any questions." They all shook their heads and Marsha left them alone.

This was the first time they had really had a chance to look at their room. It was done in French provincial again but it was much nicer then the hotel. There was a set of Louie the fourteenth chairs in front of the fireplace that looked to be originals. In between them was a beautifully carved wooden table with a crystal decanter on it and four brandy snifters. There was a bar in one corner and Dave moved in there to see what they had. It was very well stocked and he pulled out a Molson Canadian beer for himself and opened. He said,

"Darren a Canadian."

"One thing you can say about these people is they know how to treat their guests," and he went over and got himself a beer.

The two of them then went and sat on a couch that was to one side of the fireplace facing the chairs. Suzanne and Denise sat in the chairs and Suzanne said,

"Great bartenders you guys are don't even offer anyone else a drink." Darren got up and went to the bar asking what they would like. They both ordered vodka and cranberry and he quickly made them and came back and put them on the table between them.

Team Two had done a compete search looking for Mil, but they had no luck. They could not wait any longer, they had to move to get into position so they could move on the base as soon as possible. They took off and headed to the area where they wanted to land. It was a heavily forested area and they had to find an area to land. The flight was going to take about 20 minutes. In that time Christine got a quick lesson on repelling out of a plane. They would probably have to repel out in order to clear a landing site. Jeniffer went over it with her and Denzel checked everything that she was told. By the time then got to where they wanted to land, Christine knew all there was to know. They had set up the repel ropes and were all harnessed up. Graham got on to the intercom and said, there is no place to land. I have found a clearing that is almost big enough. You should only have to clear out a little bit. They opened the door and threw out the two sets of rope. Jeniffer attached herself to one as did Denzel. When they were ready they both jumped out of the plane. They quickly got down the rope and got unattached from the rope. Denzel moved to start increasing the clearing while Jeniffer waited to help Christine get down the rope.

Christine was all hooked up to the rope and was ready to go. She jumped just as a gust of wind hit the plane. It shifted the plane towards her and she could not get out of the way in time. The plane slammed into her and she was knocked out cold. Her harness slid down the rope for about ten feet then it got caught. She was just hanging there they tried to pull her up but they could not get her up. Angie said,

"I will go get her I am lighter then you." She hooked her self up to Christine's rope and started down it. She got to her and straightened her up. Then she slowly started to repel them down to the ground. When they were about half way down Christine came too. Angie said,

"Can you get down the rest of the way on your own."

"Yes," then she took over her repelling equipment, and made her way to the ground. Angie followed her down and they were both on the ground. Chico then followed and the five of them started to enlarge the clearing. Maureen pulled the rope up and closed the door.

It took them about half an hour and the clearing was big enough. When it was done Graham brought the plane in and landed it. He quickly got out and asked,

"Christine are you all right?" She nodded yes and they all went back into the plane. They went to the equipment storage and everyone put on a Special Forces out fit for jungle fighting. They then all grabbed a weapon of there choose. The women mostly grabbed Uzi's while the men went for the M-16's they also each grabbed a couple of stun grandees and a couple of fragmentation grandees. They then each grabbed their goggles and their communication equipment and moved outside of the ship. Christine had a look of a smaller and skinner Rambo with the camouflaged paint on her face and a bandanna around her head.

She started to kid around and was standing there flexing her muscles when the whole area exploded around them. It was as if they were in a war movie under a mortar attack. They all headed for the trees. Once under cover Christine saw Graham was still out there on the ground and he looked hurt. Christine used her communicator and said,

"Find out who was attacking us and stop them." Then she thought we needed to know who they are.

"Keep a couple alive so we can find out who they are." The mortars stopped but she did not know if it was safe to go to Graham. She got onto her radio again and called Jeniffer,

"Have you found them yet?"

"No they stopped before we could get a fix on there position."

"Do you think it is safe enough for me to go out and get Graham to safety."

"Give us another 10 minutes."

Christine waited and the minutes seemed like hours. Then finally Jeniffer gave her the OK to go and check on Graham. She was hesitant at first but when nothing happened, she moved quickly and confidently towards him. She got to him and found that he had a couple of wounds. One was a scarp across his forehead. It was not deep but it did have a good flow of blood coming out of it. Half of Graham's face was covered in blood from it. He looked like hell warmed over. She was still checking him out and found a wound on his leg. Then she stopped, there was another one, deep into his chest. She pulled her first aid kit and started to bandage him. When a second attack started. She had opened up his protective vest so she had to stay and cover him. About six shells fell all around the area, then they stopped again. Jeniffer called to Christine over the radio,

"We have them you can go out and get him." Maureen came running out of the plane and said,

"Is he OK?"

"I don't know we have to get him into the plane as quickly as possible."

The two of them picked him up and carried him into the plane and got him onto a table. Maureen went and got a surgical kit while Christine got him undressed so they could work on him. The two of them started to operate on him. When they were about half the way through Denzel came into the plane and said,

"We got to of them. They said they thought we were part of either the government or the Dukes men. They have a small village near here and those two groups have been trying to get them out for a long time. They are afraid." Christine looked up and said,

"Did you tell them who we are and that we are not friends of the Duke?"

"Yes."

"Will they help us?"

"Yes I think so."

"Well get all the information you can from them about the area we want to go to. Then if they won't help us let them go. I will be out when we are finished here."

The two of them finished the operation and then put Graham to bed. Maureen and Christine looked at each other and Maureen said,

"It looks good but he will be out for at lest 24 hours. You should get on with the mission."

"Call me if things start to deteriorate, we can always come back later." She then moved out to see if their captives were still there. There were two natives with paint on their bodies and bones pierced through different parts of their body. They were both fairly tall one was about six feet while the other was just under six. From what Christine could tell one of them spoke English and was telling Chico that spirits haunted the area. The native then drew a picture in the dirt and it was a Grey.

Christine walked up to them and said,

"We a here to got rid of these spirits. If you help us we should have them out of your lands in two or three days. So will you help us?" The two natives talked in their native language. Then the one that spoke English turned back to them and said,

"Yes we will help you but only if you can protect us from the spirits."

"They will be mad but hopefully they will not be able to do anything about it, but I can not lie to you it is very dangerous."