Brooke looked nervous. She said, “Okay.”
David and Henry walked out of the classroom and went down the hall. On the way, they saw Tess and the stewards, running around with the set of jingling keys. The stewards were opening up all of the previously locked compartments — most of them supply rooms, David realized. Tess had told them that there were apparently rooms all over the building that were filled with batteries, parts, tools, and emergency materials that looked like they were meant for a lot more people than just the consultants.
They opened up one door to a supply closet, and Henry’s eyes lit up when he saw the trove. He said, “Jackpot.” His hands moved quickly over the rows of plastic bins. He snagged a roll of duct tape and a few other items. When he was done, he turned to David and said, “Come on.”
The two raced back to the barracks and up to Henry’s room. They talked as they ran.
Henry said, “So this should take me about ten minutes before I’m ready to transmit. I’ll need to run a wire on the outside of the building for about twenty feet. I’ll probably just drop it out the window to you and you can secure it on the ground floor.”
David yelled over the wind, “Okay, I’ll need to grab a few things from the barracks first.”
“What are you getting?”
“Shower curtains… and rails.”
“What for?”
“Nothing. Just a backup plan.”
“We have a backup plan? I didn’t even think our original plan was that good and this guy’s got a backup plan.”
David said, “Lena was too calm. Something still doesn’t feel right.”
“You wanna tell me about your backup plan?”
“Don’t worry about it right now.”
Henry beamed with pride. “Shower curtains. And here I thought I was the only MacGyver in the group.”
Brooke’s experience with interrogations was limited to watching Jack Bauer in episodes of 24 and trying to use what she had learned when interviewing her sister’s constant flow of unworthy boyfriends. She didn’t know exactly what to do here, but she figured that she would learn quickly. Brooke had one of the military guys tear the gag off Major Combs. As soon as he did, Combs let out a river of profanity that normally would have made her blush. Today, however, she wasn’t having any of it.
She simply said, “Are you done?”
David had asked her to do this. She didn’t have time to worry about her inexperience or dwell in self-doubt. The team needed her. She would just be straightforward with him and ask him exactly what she needed to know. If Major Combs wasn’t cooperative, she might ask one of these large military helpers by her side to physically encourage him to be more forthcoming. That tactic may have been picked up from the TV shows. But she was confident that it was probably effective.
The Major’s chest was heaving. His eyes were bloodshot, and he had several minor cuts and scrapes on his face… remnants from the wrestling match that he had quickly lost in the barracks.
Brooke took a seat on the chair that Lena had been sitting in a few minutes prior and turned it to face Combs. She looked Combs directly in the eye, not saying a word. He stopped yelling.
She said, “I need to ask you some questions. I assume that you really are an officer in the Air Force. Or maybe you were at one time. If you have any honor left, please tell me the truth and do so quickly.”
He looked at her aghast. “Of course I am an officer in the Air Force. What the hell is this? You people are completely out of line. There are protocols to be followed. Lena is the site supervisor for Christ sakes. I don’t know who is responsible for this, but you need to get her back here right now. This is ludicrous!”
Brooke shook her head quickly like a dog shaking off rainwater, trying to absorb what she was hearing. She hadn’t expected him to continue the charade at this point. They were past this, weren’t they? Why was he still pretending?
She said, “What do you mean, why did we tie you up? You know why we tied you up. Look, David saw what was on the other side of the island. We know this isn’t really an American operation. We know. The game is over.”
He had a look on his face like she was from another planet.
She said, “Look, Harold, if that’s your name. We just want to get out of here safely. Listen, I don’t know what made you betray your country—”
“What the HELL are you talking about?”
He said it so loud that the two military guys standing behind him jumped. They went over and stood right next to Brooke as if to emphasize that he should behave better. Brooke liked the muscle, but she couldn’t understand the outburst.
Brooke sat there staring at Major Combs. She was new to this interrogation thing, sure. But he sort of seemed like he was being honest. This might take longer than she was hoping for…
Lena and Natesh sat in the only two chairs in the Communications Room. Each chair was in front of one of the two computer terminals, which were only a few feet apart. Lena was restrained with duct tape around her forearms and her calves. Norman stood behind them, watching. The wind howled outside. Every few seconds Norman could see flashes of lightning through the windows at the top of the stone walls.
Natesh typed away. The letters were in English, but it must have been code or something, because it looked like gibberish to Norman.
They were in there no more than two minutes when Lena started talking. She hadn’t said a word in the last hour. Now she looked right at Norman and she spoke with all the confidence of someone who knew they were going to win.
“They’ll be here soon.” Melody in her voice. Taunting. Playful.
Norman shifted his weight. “Who will? How do you know? That weather’s pretty bad. Do they have cameras? Do they know we’ve taken you?”
She said, “Of course.”
“How many?”
Lena said, “More than enough.” Again with the tone. It was like she was an elementary school teacher.
Natesh looked away from his screen and at the two of them for a moment. His forehead was sweating. He looked back at the screen and typed faster, if that was possible.
Norman said, “Natesh, how’s it coming? Any progress?”
Natesh kept typing as he said, “Just give me a few more minutes.”
Norman looked at Lena and said, “How will they come?”
She smirked. “Well armed.”
Norman eyed the 9mm in his hand. The one he had taken from Major Combs. He said, “Well, I’m armed too, lady.”
Lena let out a quick laugh, and then went quiet.
Natesh was hitting keystroke after keystroke at a rapid clip. Then he lifted up his hands and hit one final key with a flourish. He turned around from the monitor to face Lena and Norman, and said, “I think I just sent a message out. Give me a few more minutes. I am going to see if I can get access to their servers.”
“Whose servers?”
“The people that we were sending emails to. I might be able to find out who they are or where our emails were going. Just give me a little more time. I might need her for a password.”
Norman turned Lena’s chair around so that she was facing him. He stood, towering over her. He was closer than he needed to be. He holstered the 9mm and checked that her hands were taped up nice and tight. They were. She gazed up at him from her swivel chair. Silent. Thinking, perhaps. He could feel his heart pounding. He kept wondering how long they had.