“That’s it on the cover,” I said.
“Beautiful, Chase.”
“The credits say it’s not the original artwork, Alex, but that it’s a copy.”
“The original might not have resembled the asteroid anyhow. I doubt they’d have bothered going to the trouble to get an actual reproduction.”
“But—?”
“There’s a chance. At least we have something to work with.”
I had lunch with Shara the following day, and I told her about the Flex monster. “Well,” she said, “I don’t know whether information about Larissa exists anywhere. But I can tell you the best place to look.”
“Where’s that, Shara?”
“The New Honolulu University. I should have thought of them before. They have a science history archive that would probably have it if anybody does.”
I passed her comment to Alex and told him I’d get a message out to them.
“Don’t bother.” He went over and looked out the window. It was a beautiful morning, birds singing, a plane in the distance, tree limbs moving lightly in the breeze. “We can check when we get there.”
“We’re really going back?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t you think we should let them respond first? They might not be able to offer any help either.”
“If they can’t, we have another option.”
“What’s that?”
“We could try asking Baylee’s pilot where Larissa is.”
“Baylee’s pilot? Who’s that? Tokata?”
“Very good. Yes, I think that’s very likely. Chase, you haven’t been in touch with Khaled recently, have you?”
“I had a message from him last week.”
“Okay. We don’t want him to know we’re going.”
“I may already have given something away. I told him there was a possibility.”
“All right. Don’t say any more.”
“I won’t. But you want to tell me why?”
“I don’t trust him.”
Well, I knew he was wrong about that. I let it go, though. “Whatever you say. When do we leave?”
“There’s no rush. Can you manage tomorrow?”
Forty-three
We arrived at Galileo Station, worked our way through customs, and rode the shuttle down to New Honolulu. It was early morning when we checked into a suite at the Majestic, which looked out over a crowded beach and an ocean filled with swimmers. We changed clothes, and I headed for the door, assuming we would be leaving immediately for the university.
But Alex sat down. “We have a call to make first,” he said. He asked the directory if it had a listing for Heli Tokata. “She lives in Sudenton. In the British Isles.”
“Yes, sir,” it replied. “We have it.”
“May I have her code?”
“Of course. It’s Hobart 2796-331-49.”
“Now,” Alex said, “I have to do a little artwork.” He used his link to project his image, seating it in one of the armchairs. Then he manipulated it, changed it to a young woman. Blond hair, attractive. Brown-and-gray business suit. “Maybe a little more intensity in the eyes.” He made the adjustment. “What do you think, Chase?”
“She looks good.” I assumed he wanted to mislead Tokata. “You want me to provide the voice?”
He shook his head. “I’ve got it.” He fiddled with the link again and whispered “Hello, how are you?” into it. The image repeated the greeting. He tried it again, manipulated the sound until it had acquired a soft, vaguely seductive feminine tone with a British accent. “How’s that?”
“Not sure,” I said. “What’s she going to do?”
He locked her into the memory so she would be the voice and image that appeared to the person at the other end of the call. I found myself thinking of Zachary Conner. “Chase,” he said, “why don’t you sit over there so you don’t get caught in the exchange? You don’t want to be seen.”
That was fine by me. Alex was much better at this kind of thing than I was. So I moved well off to the side.
“Good,” he said. “Now, what’s Eisa’s code?”
“Khaled? You mean Tokata’s code, right?”
“No. We need to settle something first.”
I began to squirm. “Do we really have to do this, Alex?”
“Yes, we do.” I gave him Khaled’s code, his personal one, not the code that would connect him with Eisa Friendly Charters. “You just watch, all right? Don’t say anything.”
“You can count on that.”
He passed the code to the link and directed it to make the call while I did some quick math. It would be midafternoon along the Florida coast. I heard a pickup at the other end. My throat tightened. And Khaled appeared in the center of the room. He was looking at Alex but seeing only the young woman. “Mr. Eisa,” Alex said. “My name’s Marie Baxter.”
Khaled’s features softened. “Hello, Ms. Baxter. What can I do for you?”
“I’m trying to locate an old friend. Heli Tocata. We went to school together. I’ve lost track of her. The address I have doesn’t seem to work anymore. She mentioned you to me a few weeks ago. Told me you’re a friend, right? The boat owner?”
“Yes. That would be me.”
“Good. Anyway, I’m trying to find her.”
My heart picked up a notch.
“Sure,” he said. “I know Heli. But she doesn’t live around here anywhere.”
“I didn’t think she did. Last I recall, she was headed for the British Isles. Do you by any chance have contact information for her?”
“Hold on, Ms. Baxter. I’m getting it for you now.”
Alex glanced over at me with a look of regret. He had to be careful because any change in his expression would be reflected in Marie’s. But he understood that I was annoyed. I wanted to break into the conversation and tell Khaled what he could do.
And, finally, Khaled was back: “Yes. She does live in the British Isles. Or at least she did last time I talked to her. In a place called Sudenton.” He provided the code and delivered a smile. “You want me to repeat it, Marie?”
“No, I’ve got it. Thanks, Mr. Eisa. I’m in your debt.” And Alex disconnected. A long silence followed. “I’m sorry, Chase,” he said finally.
“The whole thing was a lie. All that talk about how he needed to be with me.”
“Well.” He cleared his throat. “Maybe not that part of it. But the attack was a lie. My guess is that Eisa planted an explosive on the boat, detonated it at the correct moment, then pretended to drive off the attacker.”
“Tocata was the attacker?”
“I don’t think there’s any question. We know she was lying about who and what she was. And she’s a friend of Eisa’s.”
“Oh, Chase,” Khaled had said, “you were never really in danger.”
My chest was heaving. “None of this makes sense, Alex.”
“Tocata doesn’t want us to find out what happened with Baylee. So she tried to scare us off. But what’s she hiding? And I can’t believe she’s alone in this.”
“Why not?”
“Because they destroyed one of Khaled’s boats. As far as I’ve been able to determine, Tocata doesn’t come from money.” He looked out at the sky. “I was sorry to put you through that, Chase. But I had to confirm my suspicions.”