It must have been one of the most exciting things James had ever done, Nathan thought, listening to the exchange. Even if it meant he had passed out.
“We heard that you had a little trouble during take-off,” Nathan said, looking at those around him with a playful smile.
“Okay, let’s not go there,” James laughed. “The reason I phoned; there’s another player involved◦– Angelo Cevallos.”
They all looked at each other.
Nathan wondered how JW knew that. He was the first to recover. “We just found out ourselves. Some of his people are digging up the Mojave, as we speak. They arrived just a few minutes before you called.”
That caught James by surprise.
Nathan explained how just moments before, the driver’s face was captured by the drone, put through facial recognition and identified as an employee of Cevallos.
Uri joined in the conversation. “Angelo Cevallos appears to be a wealthy, law-abiding citizen.”
“Don’t believe it for one moment,” James snubbed. “Wealthy, yes, but he’s a low-life mobster.”
“Care to enlighten us?” Nathan prompted.
“You remember Yvonne Baird?”
“Yes,” Nathan said. “She’s the deputy director that you first went to see when you informed the NSA about the transmission. You told us that LaForgue kicked her out of the meeting and you never had a chance to talk.”
“We’ve done quite a bit of talking since,” James said. “I’ll fill you in on all the details later. Cevallos abducted her daughters and threatened that if she ever wants to see them again, to provide all the information the NSA has about the Mojave operation. Problem is that Yvonne knows no more about what’s going on at the moment than we do.”
“How on earth did he manage to take her children?” Emily asked, in disbelief.
“He’s their father,” James replied, after a short pause. He’d leave the details about Müller’s hold over Yvonne until a later time. For now, they had a more pressing matter on their hands.
“I’ve asked Sven to dig up everything he can on Cevallos,” James continued. “Uri, do you have any specialised forces at Groom Lake? I want those girls out of Cevallos’s clutches as soon as possible.”
“No, sorry, James, I don’t,” Uri said. “I’ll take care of it myself and won’t need any special-ops guys.”
“How will you do that?” James asked, with concern.
“Let’s just say that I have some advanced technology available to me. As soon as we’ve confirmed that Cevallos is holding the girls at his home, I can move in. Don’t worry though; I’ll be taking a sharp-shooter with me for personal protection.” Uri looked at Obadiah. “I happened to have one conveniently at my disposal.”
Obadiah responded with a guy-nod.
“Let me know how it goes,” James said. “I’m sure Yvonne will be thrilled to know that we may be able to do something.”
“I will need one thing though,” Uri said.
“Sure, what?”
“Photos of the girls,” Uri said. “Full facial will be ideal but not mandatory.”
“I’ll have those to you shortly,” James assured him. There wasn’t a mother on the planet that didn’t have her phone packed with her kids’ photos. He’d contact Yvonne as soon as they were done here.
“You can give my personal guarantee that her girls will be safely on their way home within the next twenty-four hours.”
“I guess you know what you’re doing, and if you are that confident, I’ll let her know,” James said. “Now, only one question remains, how did Cevallos find out that there was something buried in the Mojave?”
The team watched the TV screen attentively as the sweepers moved conscientiously forward, metal detectors swaying in slow rhythmic movement.
Uri’s phone buzzed. It was the photos sent by James through SkyTech’s secure comms.
“Let me see,” Emily said, with keen interest.
“One photo would have been enough,” Nathan said, pointing out the obvious.
“They’re absolutely identical,” Emily remarked. “Aren’t they just too adorable? I wonder if they take after their mom or dad.”
“Their dad, I would imagine,” Uri said. Of the four of them, he was the only one who had met Yvonne personally, and besides their eyes, there was very little else that resembled her. He plugged his phone into the computer and uploaded the photos.
Uri reached behind him, grabbed an internal phone from a small utility table and dialled a number. “Patty, it’s Uri Lovinescu. Can you please send case NB-004 over to Level-2 in 3A… Thanks. Oh, and a standard interface cable as well. Appreciate it… Bye.”
Uri looked at Emily. “Do you remember the design engineer I pointed out at dinner the first night you were here? She was the lady sitting with her husband by the window.”
“Yes, and if I remember correctly, you mentioned that she works beneath Hangar-12.”
“You have a good memory,” Uri said.
“Too good,” Nathan said. “I get away with nothing.”
“She was the one who developed the technology I was just telling James about,” Uri said. “She’s having it sent over now.”
“The sweepers have stopped,” Obadiah informed them. “It looks like they’ve found something.”
All eyes were immediately on the TV.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Within the confines of Level-2, the team watched as the sweepers started digging around the loose soil with their hands. A moment later, a thick copper wire was exposed.
“Is that the antenna?” Emily asked, looking a little closer.
Uri, still sitting by the computer, zoomed in. “Yes. It’s almost identical to what James brought with him.”
“Are you enlarging it on the monitor?” Nathan asked, out of curiosity.
“No,” Uri said. “It’s an optical zoom directly from the drone. Watch this.” He moved in closer to the top of one of the sweeper’s hat rims◦– Hecho en Méjico was splashed across both the computer screen and the TV.
“Made in Mexico,” Nathan said. “You were right. They probably are illegal migrants. That’s some impressive spy stuff you guys have.”
“We have better,” Uri said, matter of fact. He reset the drone’s lens to its previous wide-angled state.
“I doubt they know what they’re looking at, the way it’s being yanked out the ground,” Nathan said.
The sweepers pulled further to a point where an insulated cable was connected to the antenna. They unravelled the cable from the sand and followed it for about fifty feet, at which point they were met with resistance. The diggers were called over.
“Not exactly the most enthusiastic bunch, are they?” Emily said.
Behind them, the Level-2 door opened and a perspiring technician in a lab coat entered carrying a plastic case about a foot square and four or five inches in height.
“Where can I put this, Dr. Lovinescu?”
“Just over here will be fine,” Uri said, turning around and pointing to the utility table. “Thanks for bringing it over.”
The technician carefully put down the case and excused himself.
Uri unclipped and opened the lid. He then unrolled the accompanying interface cable and plugged it into the computer.
Nathan, Emily and Obadiah eyed the contents of the container. It looked nothing more than extremely fine black sand, with each tiny grain lined up perfectly with the next.
“And what exactly is that?” Nathan asked.
“Nano-bots,” Uri replied.
He had their full attention.
“You told me all about these, Nate,” Emily said, with excitement.
Nathan was hardly listening to what Emily had just said. He gazed in wonder at the miniscule little machines, but they were simply too small to make out in any detail.