‘Guard against the Abomination, Dominique. Do not allow it to spawn.’

3

JANUARY 26, 2013: THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, DC

Ennis Chaney, the second appointed vice president in history to ascend to the highest office in the land, enters the Oval Office, feeling all his sixty-seven years. African-American, with deeply set owlish eyes, the former Senator from Pennsylvania has been commander in chief forty-two tumultuous days, ever since his predecessor, Mark Maller, took his own life in an attempt to stave off a global nuclear holocaust.

Since then, every dawn has been a blessing, every day twenty-four hours in hell.

Chaney barely has time to make his way behind his desk when his chief of staff, Katherine Gleason, buzzes him on the intercom. ‘Jesus, Kathy, at least give me a chance to sit down.’

‘Sorry, sir. Your seven o’clock appointment is here.’

‘Fine, send them in, and get me some of those chocolate chip cookies I had yesterday at the G-9 meeting. The wife says I’m gaining weight, but I’d don’t care, I need the caffeine.’

‘Yes, sir.’

A moment later, Kathy opens the outer office door, escorting two men inside. The first is Chaney’s friend, Marvin Teperman, a short Canadian exobiologist with a pencil-thin mustache and an annoyingly warm smile. The second man is all business, a gray-haired colonel in full-dress uniform. Chaney notices a slight hitch in the man’s step. An attaché case is handcuffed to his left wrist.

Marvin beams his usual smile. ‘Morning, Mr. President. Great day to be alive, eh? Allow me to present Colonel Jack McClellan, United States Air Force.’

‘Colonel.’ Chaney motions to McClellan’s leg. ‘Old war injury?’

‘Prosthetic. Damn diabetes.’

‘Tough break.’ For a fleeting moment, Chaney feels guilty about ordering the cookies. ‘Have a seat. You’ll forgive me, Colonel, but this is my first MAJESTIC-12 briefing. Maybe you could sort of bring me up to speed? I was never big on those X-Files shows.’

The colonel shrugs off the insult. ‘Sir, Operation MAJESTIC-12 was established on September 24, 1947, by special classified presidential order following the recovery of airborne objects that fell over Roswell, New Mexico, between July 4 and July 6 of that same year.’

‘By fallen airborne objects, you mean UFOs?’

‘Yes, sir, and Hollywood aside, I can assure you that this was no special effect. Technically speaking, our unit originated in 1941 with a UFO retrieval case that took place in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It wasn’t until ’47 that Truman officially funded the organization. Over the years, MAJESTIC-12 has utilized the services of some of the most brilliant minds in the world, including Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer. Even after all these years, it remains our government’s most supersecret program.’

‘Guess that explains the little wrist ornament.’