If you'd ever been to California and knew anything at all about Forced Induction or Death Valley, you'd understand that signing up for a Super Solider Program was the very least of my worries. According to the map that Morningstar had sent me, the base where Project Venom was located was in California at a place called Area 29. The Email had said that this place was so top secret that the mere mention of it's name could get you thrown into Federal Prison for the rest of your life. Now, that wasn't so bad, just don't say anything to anyone. How ever, Area 29 was smack in the middle of a bowl of sand that was the single hottest place on Earth, that was also in the middle of a heat wave. If you know anything about forced induction, then you know that when a Turbo or a blower compresses air, it gets hot. To cool that hot air it get's pumped through an inter cooler before being forced into the engine. Assuming I made it to California at all, as I only had 300 in cash with me (I kept my money in cash in my car because I don't exactly trust banks), there was still the problem of a serious overheat. I had a pretty good cooling system in my Civic, but it was only designed with external temperatures up to an ambiance of 95-105. If the Valley was in the 130's when I got there, my Civic would roast. It wasn't exactly a problem I could deal with right now, as buying a bigger radiator or inter cooler was out of the question, so I would have to take what came.

I started out early that morning, stopping for doughnuts at a Shipley store before getting onto the Interstate. I had picked up a GPS for 99$ at a Best Buy and installed it on my dash broad, downloading the map with the help of a USB cable. I stopped several times along the way for gas and for brakes and as it would turn out, I didn't have enough money to make it, so rolling the dice, at about 8PM as I made it into California, I contacted Morningstar.

"Morningstar", I said turning off the road.

"Yes Josh?", he said.

"are you busy sir?", I asked.

"I'm sitting on my couch playing on my 360", he said, 'what you need son?"

"I'm about 200 miles away from the base, but my Civic is running on fumes and I don't have enough money to fill it up", I told him, "It doesn't look like I'm going to make it. I need dinner and I don't have enough money for a hotel."

"Sounds like you got yourself in a jam", he laughed, "hang on. I' can see your GPS from my laptop, I got a few guys in a Humvee that will bring you gas and some money. Sit tight, they should be there in about ten minutes."

He hung up. I turned off my Phone, put the Civic in park and turned on the radio, rolling down the window. The show that was on was a Radio Show called Road Testament that used to be a You Tube Series on the /Drive network.

"Some of the worlds most exciting cars are exciting because they want you dead", the host said, "tonight, the top cars that want you dead, Matt Farrah, you've driven a lot of them."

"I have", Matt answered, "it's a good thing I'm here today to talk about with this, amazing new table."

'Cars that are more dangerous than heart disease, what?", the host said, "let's see the list."

"Let's see the list", Farrah said.

"On Road Testament", the Host said. I listened to the radio for about ten minutes before my cabin flooded with light and the sounds of a diesel downshifting rolled up behind me. I looked behind me to see a Humvee with a mounted 50 cal pull in and park. A man in full combat gear stepped out and walked to the Civic.

'You Miller?", he asked.

"Yep", I answered.

"We got some E85 for you in the Humvee", the man said as I stepped out, "how much your tank take?"

"30 gallons", I answered, "what up with the race gas though?"

"It's got stuff in it that lets it burn really cold", the Marine said, "most Humvee's can't make it to area 29 before they overheat, so we migrated from Diesel to this specifically blended race gas."

"Cool", I said as another Marine filled my tank.

"Here", the first man said handing me a brown paper bag, "courtesy of General Morningstar, there's two grand in there."

"Thanks brother", I said.

He smiled and we bumped fists.

"See you around 29", he said as the second marine finished filling my tank, "let's pack it on up guys."

"I'mma follow you guys the rest of the way", I said as the Marine went back to the driver seat, "I don't really trust a 99 dollar GPS."

"Fine by me", the Marine said, "I don't know much about cars, but I can tell you that if your rear wheel drive you'll have problems once we hit that dirt road."

"I'm Front Wheel Drive", I said.

"You should be okay then", the Marine said closing his door.

I slid back into my car and started it up. I strapped up the harness and put the car in first gear, waiting for the Humvee to pull out so I could follow them. We ended up not making it to Area 29 that night, stopping at a small Hotel to sleep and going to Pizza hut for dinner. While we were there, I got to know the leader of the Marines. His name was Carlos Garcia and he had been in service for almost 20 years, pushing his 39th birthday in a few weeks. He had been born in Mexico and lived there till he was 14 when his parents came to the US. He had tan skin and bright blue eyes, which was where his code name BlueJay had come from. He was about six feet and had black hair. He commented that once he learned what the Marines were, it was what he wanted to do, so he chased it. He also said that he didn't think I had made a bad decision with taking the offer for Project Venom. I asked him if I would see him around 29 and he said that that's where he'd been stationed since 2000 and that General Morningstar didn't plan on moving him anytime soon.

I made a mental note to keep him close in case something happened. The next morning we closed the final sixty miles to Area 29, which was so deep inside the Valley that we had to do a bit of off roading just to get to the outskirts of the base. It was a nightmare for the rear wheel drive Humvee because it kept losing traction. Once we were at the outskirts of the Base, we stopped at a large gate where we were met by guards in heavy body armor armed with SAW machine guns and some dogs who had their fur bleached white. Most of the guards had their helmets off and were red in the face and the dogs seemed too tired from the heat to even move.

One of the men tapped on my window and I lowered it.

"You Josh Miller?", he asked.

"Yep", I said putting the parking brake on.

"Look", he said, "I'm too fucking hot to do my job the right way, and since the dogs are dying to, you got any bombs in your car?"

"I don't think so no", I answered, "unless you count the gas tank and the ammo for the AR I got in my trunk."

"Good enough for me", the guard said, "he's clean."

"Must be hotter than the second level of hell inside that suit brother", I said.

"That's an understatement", he sighed, "I'm seriously considering taking the shit off."

"I would", I said, "how far is the base form here?"

"About two miles down the road", the guard said, "if your Rear Wheel Drive you'll have problems with the sand. I heard your car whistling when you drove up, you packing a turbo?"

"7.3 liter from a Cummins Inline Six", I said.

"Keep your RPM under 2000 or you'll overheat", the guard said.

"Will do", I said as the gate went up. I put my car in first gear and followed Carlos' Hummer through the gate and down a winding mountain road. A few times I went above 2k RPM and when I did the water temp light came on almost immediately. The Hummer was blowing black smoke and steam from a blow off value up front, they were almost certainly overheating. When we made it into the valley, what I saw was nothing short of awesome.

The center of the base was a huge black dome that seemed to absorb all the light that was reflected on it. I could see several smaller wood buildings that by my guess were barracks and what looked a lot like a road course, a shooting range and an obstacle course. There were more than a few warehouses, holding what I don't know. There was also what looked like a power station which was blowing steam from a cooling tower, possibly a Nuclear Reactor, since the tower matched the design. When we drove in, Carlos stopped the Hummer in front of the Dome and stepped out. Another Marine then drove off with the Hummer as I parked my car and stepped out. I could feel the heat of the sand through my boots. I had grown up in Texas my whole life, I wasn't a stranger to triple digit temperatures, but this shit felt unreal.

"Damn", I said, already starting to sweat, "it's hotter than a mother fucker out here."

"Ain't that the truth", Morningstar said walking out, he was dressed in short top boots, brown cargo shorts and a white shirt, trying to counteract the heat by my guess.

"If you'll follow me Josh", Morningstar said, "Carlos, you go to Barrack 103 and turn on the AC, sixty degrees."

Carlos nodded and walked away as I followed Morningstar into the dome.