David dropped a large roll of shower curtains and rails on the floor of Henry’s room. He had taken a roll of duct tape from the supply room and used it to hold the shower curtains all together like a big Persian rug. He hoped that he wouldn’t have to use it. But the voice in his head kept whispering. He needed to be ready.
Something still didn’t feel right. David had missed something; he just didn’t know what it was.
Henry saw him enter and said, “Okay, buddy, I’m about ready for you to secure this line down outside. I’ll unravel it down the window. I might need you to walk around a bit until I can be sure it’s positioned right. I’ll be watching the needle from in here. Once I say it’s good, use your roll of tape to secure it to something on the ground.” Henry didn’t even look up as he spoke. He had taken his alarm clock apart and was connecting wires and circuits to other metal pieces.
David said, “Got it. I’ll be down there. Just yell when you’re ready.”
Brooke was exasperated. She’d been questioning the Major for the past twenty minutes and he was still playing dumb. Worst of all, she was starting to doubt how much he really knew. She thought she could read people pretty well. He was reacting just how the others had reacted when they’d found out that Bill was being held prisoner on the other side of the island. He was enraged. And he was insistent that he knew nothing about it. At first, he had also insisted that Lena wasn’t a part of it. But the more he heard about what David had seen, the less sure he seemed to be.
Brooke said, “So you had access to the computer room every day. Who would you talk to on the other end? Did Lena ever tell you who that was?”
“Like I said, she has always told me it was members of her CIA team. People that were piped in to this closed network. I guess I figured they were in Langley or some covert CIA Internet lab somewhere.”
“But she let you carry a handgun. Why would she do that if you weren’t in on it?”
“In on it? Look, let’s say you’re right. Let’s say Lena isn’t who she claimed to be. I mean, first of all I can’t explain why she would let me carry a gun—”
Dr. Creighton was standing nearby. He said, “Because she wanted to create the illusion of reality in all of our eyes. The same reason that she made us sign nondisclosure agreements and get security badges when we checked in. Giving Major Combs a gun is a large risk to take. But it creates a compelling reason to believe that she is a trusting and trustworthy American CIA official, does it not?”
Combs said, “That’s insane. I could have shot her if—”
Dr. Creighton said, “But you were the last to suspect anything. And the most loyal due to the trust she gave you. She had you as one of her henchmen up until an hour ago. Other canaries would have fallen before she needed to remove the gun from your possession. My hypothesis is that it was a calculated risk on her part. One that worked well, until David’s swim this morning.”
Major Combs looked very different than he had a few minutes ago. Where he had started off cursing and angry, he now looked defeated and sad.
Brooke said, “So what can you tell me about how Lena got that helicopter here? Or the airplanes every day. How did she coordinate all of the logistics? We were told that you helped with all of that.”
Combs frowned. “No. The only thing I did was send and receive emails on those computers. I didn’t actually do any of the planning. I relayed information to and from Lena. Half the time I didn’t even understand what was being said.”
“Natesh said otherwise. He said that you and Lena were by yourselves in some secret back room of that Communications building. He said that was where you got the gun. And that’s where he thought you kept anything that you guys didn’t want us to see.”
Major Combs looked like he would explode. “Bullshit. That’s total bullshit. Natesh is a liar. He was the one that was always back there with her. It actually pissed me off.”
Brooke’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“She made me the Administrative Officer, not him. He was just supposed to help facilitate some of these meetings with people. But then when we got here it wasn’t the way she said it would be…”
Brooke shook her head in disgust. Even now, after being told that Lena was very likely a Chinese spy, he was still upset that she had given Natesh more attention. Still… what he was saying about Natesh was very odd.
“… She was always having private conversations with Natesh in there in the early morning and when I got into the room they would stop talking. She would go into the back room for hours and Natesh and I would go on the computer. I didn’t know if it would be like this for the whole three weeks. She told me and Natesh when we met last year that—”
Brooke said, “Stop.”
He looked at her, startled. He said, “What?”
“What do you mean she told you and Natesh last year?”
Norman leaned forward, pressing his hands into her shoulders and holding his face just inches from her own. He said, “I want you to tell me what’s on the other side of this island, and when and how many people are going to come for us. Do you understand?”
Lena winked a sexy, defiant wink. It infuriated Norman.
He raised his hand as if to strike her. She smiled back at him, a daring glint in her eye. He thought about hitting her but couldn’t bring himself to hit a girl. Even if she was an enemy. She was a woman, and he had been raised never to lay a finger on a woman.
He shoved her chair away in frustration and let out a snort.
“Are you frustrated?” Lena asked, a weird excitement in her voice.
Norman said nothing. Natesh continued to type.
“You should let go of your frustration. This situation will be resolved soon enough.”
Norman clenched his jaw. “How so?” he said.
“Soon my support will arrive. They will take all of you into custody. I will be released. That is what will happen.”
“That so?”
“Undoubtedly.”
Norman stepped over to speak into her ear. He kneeled down. His face was red and he was angry enough that he started doing things he wouldn’t have otherwise. Like pressing his weapon into her temple. He unholstered the gun and jammed it against her skull.
Lena closed her eyes and inhaled. A deep, pleasure-filled breath. “Don’t you just love moments like these?”
Natesh looked at them and said, “Norman, cool it.”
Norman said, “Tell me how many people there are on the other side of the island.”
Lena turned her head so that the barrel of the gun was pointed straight at her forehead. She caressed the tip of the gun with her lips. Norman’s face was red with fury.
Lena said, “More than enough, I assure you.”
“Will they send helicopters in this weather? Can the people on the other side of the island take boats here? How will they get here? Do they know that we have you? How much time do we have?”
Lena said, “Relax, Mr. Shepherd. Trust me, there is absolutely no way out for you or the other members of the Red Cell—”
“Stop calling it that. This never was a Red Cell. It was all a sham. A waste.”
“A sham maybe, but definitely not a waste. Trust me, the information will be put to good use.”
Norman was losing control of his emotions. He said, “You bitch. Is this noble to you? Do you think this is right? To kidnap people and attack a peaceful nation? I assume you’re Chinese, right? Why the hell would China want to attack us, anyway? Don’t you guys already own half our country and sell everything to us? What more do you want?”