“What happened to the guys who assaulted you?” he said.
“Nothing.” She gave him an evil smile. “Officially, that is. I took care of it though.”
“What do you mean? Took care of it.”
“I got into their personnel files and inserted homosexual incidents and child pornography into their records. They’re toast for the rest of their lives. Jobs. Marriages. Military service. Down the drain. One of them committed suicide.”
That had been years ago, but as he sat in his study, Hawkins still remembered the dead emotionless tone of her voice and the calmness in the purple-blue eyes. He decided that something had died inside the young woman when she was attacked and pushed out of the army.
It was the only time she talked about her past. And it was the only time he had ever seen her in person. Sutherland still dropped him an email from time to time. She said nothing about what she was doing, or where she lived, and he didn’t inquire. He assumed she was living on a navy disability, with her computer her only companion — a lone computer genius with a mental problem.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, he assured himself.
He took a deep breath, called up Sutherland’s address and typed:
HI MOLLY.
He had barely hit the Send key when the reply appeared.
HI LIEUT. NICE 2 HEAR FROM U. WHAT’S UP?
I NEED YOUR HELP.
?
FORMING A MISSION TEAM. WOULD LIKE U TO JOIN IT.
?4U. NAVY?
Hawkins had to think of an answer.
KINDA. SORTA.
;S.
?! NOT UP ON TEXTING SHORTHAND. PLZ TALK ENGLISH.
MEANS HMMM. WHY ME?
U R BEST COMPUTER PERSON I KNOW. AND TRUST.
104. MEANS THANKS. DETAILS, PLEASE. THIS IS A SECURE LINE.
Hawkins typed a summary of the expedition, starting with the call to go to Newport. He included the part about his demands for an honorable discharge. At the end of the summary he wrote:
NEED SOMEONE TO DO INSTANT RESEARCH RE PRESTER JOHN. AND WATCH WORLDWIDE COMMUNICATIONS FOR ANYTHING THAT COULD ENDANGER MISSION. PROTECT US WITH A CYBER UMBRELLA.
LOL. LOST TREASURE? EX-WIFE? COMPUTER HACKER W/ TUDE!!! YOU ARE CRAZY!
BESIDE THE POINT. R U IN? There was an uncharacteristic pause before the answer appeared.
“S”
ENGLISH PLZ.
SMILE. I’M IN.
APPRECIATE IT, MOLLY.
U R ONLY ONE I WOULD DO THIS FOR. I—
He waited for her to complete the sentence, and when she didn’t respond he typed:
THX. SET UP SECURE TELECONFERENCE FOR TOMORROW AT 2000 HOURS WITH ABBY AND HAYES. DETAILS TO FOLLOW THEN.
A photo flashed on the screen of Sutherland in her army uniform. A second later she signed off and the picture disappeared. Hawkins felt a moment of exhilaration. His team was complete. He had the best people he knew in logistics, security and intelligence. Oddballs every one of them, but the best.
Then reality hit home. Oh yeah, he thought. This merry crew is led by a man who is certifiably insane.
He let out a groan that woke Quisset out of a sound sleep.
“We’re doomed,” Hawkins said.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The next day, Hawkins and Snowy wrapped Fido in padding to prepare the submersible for travel. Later that day, a truck arrived in Woods Hole courtesy of the same special number he had called to request a jet to Washington. They watched as Fido was removed from Hawkins’ workshop. As the truck drove off to Otis air base, Hawkins turned to his friend and said, “You’re probably wondering what that was all about.”
“Some.”
“Don’t blame you. I’m going to be gone for a while to work on a project. Leaving early tomorrow morning. Navy stuff, so I can’t tell you the details. Or how long. I wondered if you’d pick Quisset up tomorrow and take care of her while I’m away.”
“Glad to, Matt.”
Hawkins shook Snowy’s hand and then he and Quisset walked back into the house. He packed a bag full of clothes and another with dive gear. Then he climbed to his study and spread out some satellite photos he’d asked a geologist to prepare. Using a magnifying glass, he studied the lake and a lush-looking section of farmland that surrounded a village. He was surprised to see an airstrip.
He spent the next few hours laying out an action plan that covered every eventuality he could think of. He took a quick dinner break and precisely at eight o’clock he called up the video conferencing link on his computer. A Cheshire cat flashed onto the screen, fading until only its enigmatic smile remained. The crescent of pointed teeth morphed into Molly’s Mona Lisa smile and her full face materialized.
One never knew what to expect of Molly.
“What’s with the cat?” he said.
“Virtual kitty. No feeding. No litter box.”
Hawkins knew that was as far as he was going to get with the enigmatic computer genius.
“Are we all set up for the teleconference?”
Sutherland nodded slightly. Her head shrunk on the screen and moved to one side to allow space for Hawkins’ face, then the screen split into quarters and Abby and Calvin appeared like a couple of CNN talking heads. Hayes hadn’t changed much. The wide mouth was stretched in a grin.
“Hawk! You are looking good, man,” Hayes said in his soft-spoken New Orleans drawl. “You too, Abby.”
“Thank you, Cal,” she said. “It’s nice to see you. Thanks for arranging this reunion, Matt.”
She flashed Hawkins the smile that used to get his pulse racing.
“My pleasure. I’d like to introduce you to my friend Molly Sutherland.”
They both said hello, and Abby added, “How come we’ve never heard of you, Molly?”
“Because that’s the way I prefer it,” Molly said. “I like to be in the background.”
Abby cocked her head. “If that’s the case, how did you and Matt meet?”
“Fate,” Sutherland said.
Abby’s eyes narrowed. Matt saw a further question poised on his ex-wife’s lips. He knew first hand about Abby’s persistence and Sutherland’s manic defense of her privacy and broke up the exchange before it started.
“I’ll start by reviewing my own work over the last twenty-four hours.”
He described their objective and outlined his plans. Get in undetected. Use the submersible to speed up the search for underwater caves. Dive into the lake. Find the treasure. Escape.
“Molly, could you give us an overview of what you’ve done?”
Sutherland looked pleased to be the first called upon. Her mouth turned up slightly at the corners.
“I’m putting together the comprehensive historic file on Prester John that you asked for and catalogued the data so it can be accessed forensically according to specific questions. I’ve also established a file on any mention of Prester John anywhere in the world in the last six months. I’ll be combing that file to see if I can find anything relating to the mission.”
“That will be a big help, Molly.”
“Now to mission protection,” she said. “I’ll mine the internet for any hint that the mission has been compromised. I’ve established a surveillance program to keep an eye on internet traffic. If anyone is talking about us in conjunction with Prester John it will trigger a red flag.”
“That sounds like a miniature version of the NSA,” Abby said.
“The program is patterned after the NSA forensic search logarithms. And it’s not miniature. It’s a full blown data mining operation that samples all possible sources.”