Alone in the Crowd (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Sarge, do you read?”
    Several seconds after the attempt, he added over his shoulder, “I’ve got nothing.”
    He tapped his ear and tried again, “Sarge, Butler, Watkins, do you read me?”
    Jason regarded him with curiosity, wondering why he continued to call them over the communicators when they were only about a hundred meters away and in line of sight. Looking back at the group in the middle of the square, he noticed they had regrouped at the bottom of the stairs and appeared to be discussing something. Several seconds after that, the leader moved a few steps back toward the woods and tapped his earpiece again.
    The soldier next to Jason tried the call again. “Sarge, do you…I read you now, sir…yes, sir…yes, sir.”
    He turned toward the other three men standing by him. “All right, you heard him. Get back to the vehicles! Let’s move!”
    Before Jason could protest, they had jogged through the woods toward the river, leaving him alone. A second later, his communicator came alive again.
    “Jason, please report back to town for debriefing.”
    As he lifted his arm to respond, he glanced back at the pyramid and the soldiers setting up a perimeter around the structure before answering, “On my way.”
    * * * * *
    Later that afternoon, Jason found himself sitting alone at a table in an empty office in the town hall. Kept waiting for over half an hour, he grew bored of staying in the room with nothing to do and felt on the verge of banging his head against the wall.
    The door opened, and Ms. Armstrong glided into the room. An older, high-ranking, uniformed man with white crew-cut hair walked right behind her. Ms. Armstrong grabbed one of the chairs opposite him at the table and sat down, while the military man stood behind her, a grim expression on his face.
    “Well, Jason,” she began. “You’ve had quite a day. Venture off to forage for food and find an ancient pyramid instead?”
    Jason shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “Well, you know. It’s not like I planned it that way.”
    “That may be true.” She flashed a smile for a second. “But, it seems kind of odd that we haven’t even been planet-side for twenty-four hours, and you just happen to stumble across this…astounding find. Why is that?”
    His smile dropped away. “I don’t know. I was only looking for food and happened to find it…the pyramid, that is. I don’t know why.”
    The debriefing continued for what Jason believed to be at least half an hour, consisting of questions ranging from simple fact regurgitation, such as the amount of vegetation growing around the pyramid, to the totally absurd – suggesting that he had been led there by some form of intelligence. He answered truthfully to the best of his ability, even though his answers sometimes seemed to frustrate the woman sitting across from him. Through it all, the military man standing behind her remained silent.
    Ms. Armstrong finally nodded with a tight-lipped smile. “Considering that all of our reconnaissance reports indicate no other signs of civilization on this moon, I’m truly intrigued by this pyramid. Have you discussed this with anybody else other than the two of us?”
    Jason shook his head. “No, I haven’t, except maybe the announcement made over the radio when I found it.”
    She sighed and nodded with her eyes closed. “Looks like we’re going to have to address this with everyone who had a communicator.
    “Meanwhile,” she continued, snapping her eyes open to look directly at Jason. “I do not want you discussing this with anyone else, and I want you to stay away from that pyramid. I don’t want to take any chances of anything happening if no one else is around. Understand?”
    Jason nodded.
    “All right. You can go home now, but I may want to speak with you about this again at some point.”
    “Sure. That’s fine.”
    “Great,” she assured with a smile. “Thank you, Jason.”

Chapter 4
    “Good morning, Catherine.”
    No response.
    “Good