Ben pulled out a notepad and scribbled down the computer commands that would copy precisely what he needed from the stopped prototype program. He double-checked it to make sure there was nothing apparent that might crash the program or garble the files, then triggered the process.
The sound of hard drives whirring to life reached his ears as he monitored the information on the screen. The download continued for two very long minutes before the final confirmation blinked on-screen. Ben transferred the downloaded files to a CD and sat down at his computer desk in deep thought. It would be professional suicide to leave the building with the CD or any computer-storage medium. But Ben had always known about an uncovered hole in the system. He’d monitored it carefully to prevent anyone else from finding or using it, but there was a way to get the master hard drive to send anything to one particular serial port on one solitary computer in the lab. He pulled out his cell phone now and looked at it, trying to recall whether its “system” might be actively intercepted by counterintelligence security apparatus.
No, he concluded. Highly unlikely.
He pulled out a cable from his briefcase and connected it first to the serial port of the computer, then to the bottom of his cell phone, dialing the special number to his home desktop computer. He entered the appropriate commands until he had a clear channel to a restricted area of his hard drive’s memory, and triggered the transfer. He sat in rising apprehension as the computer began the process of sending the top secret program digitally over his cell phone to his personal machine at home.
“Dr. Cole?” a male voice asked without warning.
A cold fear gripped him as he jumped involuntarily. “What? Who’s that?”
The voice had come from the doorway, and Ben looked up to see a security guard he knew strolling in, immediately destroying his glib confidence that he was doing something no one could detect. Ben was sure sweat was visible on his forehead. He tried not to swallow or sound as guilty as he felt.
“Ms. White asked me to come make sure you kept your word and went home, Doctor,” the guard said with a grin.
Ben sighed audibly. “You scared me, Jerry!”
“Sorry about that. You do look a bit shaken.”
“I thought I was alone.”
“Nope. You got us rent-a-cops here, too.”
“Give me a second and I’ll be ready,” Ben said, deftly cancelling the return message on the computer screen that the upload was complete. He secured and shut down the computers one by one, feeling a predictable pang as he dumped Lisa’s image before grabbing his overstuffed briefcase and turning toward the guard with a smile.
“Okay. That’s it.”
“Haven’t you forgotten something, Doc?” the man said, an expression on his face Ben instantly read as accusatory.
“I… I don’t think so.”
The guard walked toward the computer Ben had used for the download and picked up the cell phone. The download modem cord dangled from the bottom.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?”
A wave of nausea consumed him as he watched the guard hold out the cell phone with the cord still attached and shake his head in smiling disapproval, like a cat playing with his doomed mouse.
“I… ah…” Ben began.
“It’s one thing to get the battery all charged up, but if you forget to take it home, you still can’t use it,” the guard said with a smile. “It’s always the obvious things that get you engineering types.”
Ben took the phone from his hand and quickly disconnected the download cord, stuffing them both in his briefcase. “You’re so right, Jerry. Thanks! I was expecting an important call in a little while and I didn’t want my battery to die in the middle of talking to her. You know.”
The guard put a fatherly hand on his shoulder, guiding him to the door.
“Ms. White’s instructions were specific. Remove Dr. Cole’s fatigued body from the premises no matter how much he protests. I always follow a lady’s requests. Well, almost always.”
Ben swiped his badge at the security entrance and cleared his handprint and retinal scans before waving goodbye to Jerry and climbing into his car, the guard’s words echoing in his head. It’s always the obvious things that get you, Jerry had said.
But what could he be missing that was obvious?
ELEVEN
WEDNESDAY MORNING, DAY 3 ANCHORAGE HILTON
April had been battling to ignore the sound of the alarm clock for the previous ten minutes. She gave up and pulled it to her. She’d left a wake-up call for 8 A.M., but it was 5:50.
Dean, one of her two brothers, was due in at 10 A.M., and she had to get to the airport as well as make a half dozen calls back to Vancouver. And, if her folks were to be released by mid afternoon, there were airline tickets to Seattle to arrange.
April turned out the lamp on the bedside table and pulled a pillow over her head to try to recapture sleep, but it was no use. After less than ten minutes she sat up abruptly and tossed the pillow across the room in frustration, wide awake. Something was rolling around in her mind and she couldn’t quite capture it.
Okay. I’ll try the shower.
Anchorage was hunkered down under a slate sky on a particularly frigid morning when she slid out from under the bedcovers and padded over to the window to look out. She thought about her state of undress, but her silk robe was back in Vancouver, and besides, there were no high buildings across from the Anchorage Hilton.
April pulled the curtains back to an otherwise exhibitionistic extent and folded her arms beneath her breasts as she watched a flight of four Air Force F-15s landing at Elmendorf one by one. She waited until all four had crossed the threshold and disappeared onto the runway before heading for the bathroom and inserting herself into the comfortable cocoon of hot water and white noise, letting the spray block out all but her thoughts.
Long, hot, luxurious showers had always been her best thinking time, something her brothers had never understood — especially when they had to wait endlessly for their little sister to release the bathroom.
But the never-ending supply of hot water in a major hotel was a wonderful luxury, and she’d taken advantage of such opportunities all her life — so much so, Gracie was fond of saying, that her name had become a permanent feature on the environmentalist hit list of international water wasters.
April closed her eyes and tried to remember what it was about the conversation with her mother the night before that was bothering her so. She’d left the hospital around seven and checked into the hotel, then had gone downstairs for a quick sandwich. But her mother was already ringing her room phone by the time she returned. Rachel Rosen needed to go over everything in great detail once more, and it had been therapeutic for both mother and daughter.
Something, however, had been bothering April ever since.
Okay… Dad said the prop threw a blade and everything started shaking wildly.
She let her mind replay her parents’ narratives.
Mom said Dad’s description of the prop blade must be right because there was this incredible noise, just as he said.
She turned around, letting the cascade of water inundate her face, standing in thought a few more minutes, melding her memory of the Albatross with their description of the moment.
April’s eyes fluttered open as an alternate possibility popped into her head, a slightly bizarre thought that propelled her out of the shower and into a bath towel. She glanced at her watch, calculating the distance to the airport and wondering if there was enough time for a critical errand before her brother arrived.