The Doomsday Conspiracy by Sidney Sheldon Page A

and addresses." Page 36
    Sidney Sheldon - Doomsday Conspiracy
    "Well, sure. Otherwise, how would he know where to send them?" Robert stood still, a feeling of euphoria sweeping over him. Serendipity, Robert, you lucky sonofabitch! An impossible mission had suddenly become a piece of cake. He was no longer looking for seven unknown passengers. All he had to do was find one photographer.
    "Why didn't you mention him before, Mr. Beckerman?"
    "You asked me about passengers."
    "You mean he wasn't a passenger?"
    Hans Beckerman shook his head.
    "Nein." He pointed.
    "His car was stalled across the highway. A tow truck was starting to haul it away, and then there was this loud crash, and he ran across the road to see what was happening. When he saw what it was, the fellow ran back to his car, grabbed his cameras, and came back. Then he asked us all to pose in front of the saucer thing."
    "Did this photographer give you his name?"
    "No."
    "Do you remember anything about him?"
    Hans Beckerman concentrated.
    "Well, he was a foreigner. American or English."
    "You said a tow truck was getting ready to haul his car away?"
    "That's right."
    "Do you remember which way the truck was headed?"
    "North. I figured he was towing it into Bern. Thun is closer, but on Sunday, all the garages in Thun are closed." Robert grinned.
    "Thank you. You've been very helpful."
    "You won't forget to send me your article when it's finished?"
    "No. Here's your money and an extra hundred marks for your great help. I'll drive you home." They walked over to the car. As Beckerman opened the door, he stopped and turned toward Robert.
    "That was very generous of you." He took from his pocket a small rectangular piece of metal, the size of a cigarette lighter, containing a tiny white crystal.
    "What's this?"
    "I found it on the ground Sunday before we got back on the bus." Robert examined the strange object. It was as light as paper and was Page 37
    Sidney Sheldon - Doomsday Conspiracy
    the color of sand. A rough edge at one end indicated that it might be part of another piece. Part of the equipment that was in the weather balloon? Or part of a UFO?
    "Maybe it will bring you luck," said Beckerman, as he placed the bills Robert had given him in his wallet.
    "It certainly worked for me."
    He smiled broadly and got into the car. It was time to ask himself the hard question: Do I really believe in UFOs? He had read many wild newspaper stories about people who said they had been beamed up into spaceships and had had all kinds of weird experiences, and he had always attributed those reports to people who were either looking for publicity or who should have thrown themselves on the mercy of a good psychiatrist. But in the past few years, there had been reports that were less easy to dismiss. Reports of UFO sightings by astronauts, Air Force pilots, and police officials, people with credibility, who shunned publicity. In addition there had been the disturbing report of the UFO
    crash at Roswell, New Mexico, where the bodies of aliens had purportedly been discovered. The government was supposed to have hushed that up and removed all the evidence. In World War II, pilots had reported strange sightings of what they called Foo fighters, unidentified objects that buzzed them and then disappeared. There were stories of towns visited by unexplainable objects that had come speeding through the sky. What if there really are aliens in UFOs from another galaxy? Robert wondered. How would it afect our world? Would it mean peace? War?
    The end of civilization as we know it? He found himself half hoping that Hans Beckerman was a raving lunatic, and that what had crashed was really a weather balloon. He would have to find another witness either to verify Beckerman's story or to refute it. On the surface, the story seemed incredible, but yet, there was something nagging at Robert. If it was only a weather balloon that crashed, even if it did carry special equipment, why was I called into a