It was that time, Nathan realised. “Thanks, Gene. I’ll go there now.”
Walking into the restaurant a few minutes later, Nathan spotted very few people. It appeared as if lunch was already over. He caught the attention of the young soldier who had been their regular host during dinner.
“Has Emily had lunch yet?” Nathan asked.
“I’m sorry, sir,” he replied. “I haven’t seen her at all today. Let me check with some of the others.” He turned and walked briskly into the kitchen. Returning a moment later, he looked at Nathan and shook his head. “She didn’t get lunch today, sir.”
“Okay, thanks.” Nathan wondered if she might be in their suite. He paced out of the restaurant and up to their rooms on the second floor.
Nobody.
Everything was exactly as they had left it when they came down for breakfast. The bed shared by the twins had not been removed yet. Of course, Nathan thought, she’s probably taking a break and sitting in one of Uri’s comfortable chairs reading her magazine. He remembered Emily bringing it with her on their way to Level-2 that morning.
He walked quickly to Hangar-6 and down the three flights of stairs. Lights automatically illuminated as he came through the door.
“Emily?” Nobody here either. Nathan was getting worried.
Back at ground level, Nathan saw Obadiah and Kovak talking by the open door of the helicopter. Uri, with an annoyed look on his face, was supervising a fork-lift that was about to carry the egg to Hangar-12.
Nathan rushed over. “Uri, you haven’t seen Emily by any chance?”
“No,” Uri said. “She’s not in Level-2?”
“No,” Nathan said, dropping his eyes and shaking his head.
“Probably still at lunch then,” Uri said, reassuringly.
“Checked there as well,” Nathan said, with concern. “She hadn’t come for lunch at all. I also checked our suite and down in your space below Hangar-6. All the lights were off when I entered.”
“Did you ask Gene?”
“Yes,” Nathan said. “He hasn’t seen her at all. I’m going back there now. Maybe she’s returned.”
“I’ll come with you,” Uri said, now also a little concerned.
Nathan was sweating from both the oppressive early afternoon heat and rushing back and forth. He entered Level-2 with Uri close behind.
“I didn’t notice that before, Uri,” Nathan said. “Look, her phone and security badge are on the table. Her laptop is open and...”
“What is it?”
“There was a printout of Kubacki’s fully deciphered document behind her computer. It’s no longer there.”
“Come with me,” Uri said, with urgency.
Three levels below Hangar-6, Uri opened an application on his computer. “I’m not really supposed to have this, but I can access the surveillance videos around most of the complex.” He selected Level-2 in Building-3A. “This is real-time. I’m going to rewind a few hours.”
After a minute or so, they were looking at Emily drinking coffee and watching the TV near Gene’s workstation. Through the eye of the drone, the Huey had just landed amid a cloud of dust.
The surveillance video suddenly turned to static.
“What just happened?” Nathan asked, in sudden disbelief.
“I don’t know,” Uri said. “This is very odd. Maybe it will recover. Let’s wait for a few seconds.”
After a few seconds, nothing changed, nor after the first minute or two. It had taken just on ten minutes for the video playback to return. Emily’s computer was still on, and beside it, her unfinished coffee along with her phone and security badge.
Nathan suspected the worst. “Uri, she wouldn’t leave her badge or phone on the table unless she was close by.”
Uri rested his hand gently on Nathan’s shoulder. “I’m sorry if I was a bit distracted earlier on,” he said. “I’d sent a text to the comms room from the helicopter telling them to ensure a large tarpaulin was made available for when we arrived. I wanted that egg covered before we pulled it out. Emily is far more important than what some conspiracy clowns might have seen.”
“What’s happened to her?” Nathan said, in a tremulous voice.
Uri’s face was grave. He looked at Nathan. “We obviously have a very serious situation.” Uri was concerned for Emily, but equally troubled about the missing document.
Chapter Sixty
James had arranged for a driver to take Yvonne to JFK in his Bentley so that she’d be there when her daughters arrived from Las Vegas. Sven, sitting alone at his workstation, had a few more minutes before he too would need to leave and pick up Kayla from his mother, who cared for his daughter after school. He understood all too well the emotional turmoil Yvonne must have gone through, having her girls held for ransom. He also understood her want for revenge.
From what Sven had found out about Angelo Cevallos, it was all too evident that Miguel, one of Cevallos’s henchmen, had stumbled across Kubacki’s operation quite by accident. Miguel imported Mexican workers across the border to Las Vegas illegally, and what better way of not getting caught than driving across the Mojave Wastelands.
Sven was well versed in exactly how these smuggling operations worked. The migrants’ meagre life savings were taken from them with promises of wealth and prosperity in America, and after they arrived, were treated no better than slaves. Most lived in atrocious conditions, worked long, hard hours and given barely enough wages to survive on. And they lived in fear of being arrested by the immigration authorities.
Sven was beginning to see some merit in getting revenge against Cevallos.
Sven’s thoughts were interrupted when James walked hurriedly into Info Tech.
“Sven,” James said, with a grim expression on his face. “Emily’s gone missing.”
“What?”
“Nate, Obadiah and Uri went to investigate the operation in the Mojave and when they returned about thirty minutes ago, Emily was nowhere to be found.”
“Shit!” was all Sven could say. The concern on his face mimicked James’s.
“I spoke mostly to Uri,” James said. “Nate was completely incoherent.” He briefly described to Sven what Uri had told him about the cavern and the odd floating car. “They brought it back to Groom Lake in the helicopter and it was only after when they discovered Emily’s disappearance. Nate went down to that Level-2 area they were working from. Her computer was still on, and next to it, a cold coffee, her phone and her security badge. Worst of all, there was a printout of the fully deciphered document by Emily’s computer. That’s gone.”
“Shit!” Sven repeated. With all his skills as the world’s foremost hacker, there was absolutely nothing he could do from here. Emily was more than just a co-worker to him; she was like a sister and confidante. A year ago, he had taken her completely into his trust with some unscrupulous undertaking he was involved in. “Shit, shit, shit!”
The remains of flight 761’s port-side jet had been dismantled and carted to a maintenance hangar for immediate analysis. Almost five thousand Boeing 737s lay grounded worldwide and would remain that way until the cause of the disaster had been determined. At a cost to the global economy of just fewer than two billion dollars daily, airlines wanted answers, and fast.
Liam was a low-key maintenance technician and quite content with his lot in life. His bi-weekly paycheque was consumed in part on rental of his frugally furnished basement apartment, Big Macs, Jack Daniels and girlie magazines. Horse racing absorbed the rest.
His job this evening, for which he was being paid time and a half, was to strip the jet. Remains of the turbine, fan-blades, intake, exhaust and combustion chambers were meticulously catalogued and spread neatly on the designated area of the hangar’s floor. Liam was a remarkably gifted man and could identify all the parts from memory. He didn’t need to reference anything by comparing with schematics provided by the equipment manufacturer.