CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Hiro and AJ are working on downloading all the information I got from the computer,” said Bogey. “I gave the cables to Victoria. She acted like I’d given her jewelry.”
“To her it is jewelry,” smirked Ham. “She’ll figure it out.”
“April, were you aware that your grandfather had gone to see Daniel Harvey and had an argument with him?” asked Tanner.
“No,” she frowned, shaking her head. “He knew how I felt about him interfering in any way with my career. Daniel liked to say that my grandfather was protecting me but he promised me that he did nothing for me to get that job or keep it.”
“I think he was telling you the truth but I do think your grandfather might have been protecting you from something with the airline,” said Gator. “Honey, the official cause of death on the colonel’s death certificate was simply complications from old age, not his heart. Are you certain of that?”
“I didn’t have a reason to question it. Not really.
I mean, he was in good physical condition from what I knew but he kept saying that he wasn’t feeling well when I would speak to him on the phone.
It was always something simple. Headaches, cold-like symptoms, something generic. I didn’t think anything of it.”
“Did they do an autopsy?” asked Gator.
“No. There didn’t seem to be a reason for it. He went to bed and didn’t wake up.”
“Would you give us permission to exhume the body and perform one?” he asked quietly. Quinn stared at the group of men, knowing that if they were asking for something so severe, there was a reason.
“I-I suppose but it’s been almost two years. You won’t find anything, will you?” she asked.
“We could find out if there were drugs used in his demise or if there was something suspicious that the coroner didn’t see or ignored.”
“You’re suggesting that the coroner, maybe even the police had something to do with his death?” she asked.
“I’m saying we want to explore all avenues to figure this out. I don’t believe that your grandfather would ever help these people,” said Ham. But April noticed that there seemed to be an unspoken ‘but’ at the end of his statement.
“But,” she started, “he might have if they were threatening me.”
“We just want to be sure, honey, that’s all.” April nodded at them.
“You have my permission. I want to be certain of what happened to him. If he was murdered, I want whoever was responsible to pay for it. I know my grandfather, I know the kind of man he was. He would never do anything to endanger U.S. troops. Even if it would protect me.”
“I think he loved you enough to do anything,” said Gator, “but he knew about us. He’d even told you to call us if you ever needed anything which indicates to me that he suspected you might need us. I just wonder why he wouldn’t call us if he was in trouble.”
“He was proud,” said April. “Very proud. If he were somehow caught up in all this he might have been embarrassed.”
“That’s fair,” nodded Ham. “I think we review all of the information from Daniel’s computer and then see what Victoria and the team come up with on the cables.”
“I think we might know that sooner, rather than later,” said Gator looking down at his phone. “Victoria, Montana, and Hayes have found something.”
Just when April thought she’d seen it all, a medieval castle-like structure sitting in the middle of a swamp popped into view.
The huge parapets cast shadows over the cypress trees, their hanging moss dangling like ghosts of the bayou.
April could see men inside each one, guarding it as if they were guarding the crown jewels.
Massive concrete barriers lowered into the swamp, allowing the boat to ease through and park along the dock. As each person stepped off, a system scanned their bodies and faces, announcing their arrival.
“How did it know who I was?” she asked.
“The trackers we gave you,” smiled Quinn. “This is a top-secret facility that works on some of the most innovative defense systems in the world. No one gets in without being approved.”
“Wow,” she whispered as Quinn took her hand, walking her to the massive steel doors that opened to allow them in. Wyatt and Leo were on duty today, nodding at the men as they entered.
“They’re upstairs,” said Leo.
April followed them up the steel stairway and toward a massive conference room. Victoria and Hayes were chattering back and forth as something appeared on the television screen at the end of the room.
“Hi,” said Gator. “We’re here.” Montana nodded, smirking at the young couple.
“I see that. I’m letting the geniuses get their excitement out,” she smiled. “You must be April. I’m Montana.”
“Nice to meet you,” said April.
“Oh, you’re here!” squealed Victoria. “You’re not going to believe this! You’re simply not going to believe this!”
“Victoria, if you could tell me what it is, honey, I might believe it,” said Ham frowning at her.
“Oh, yes,” she giggled.
“I’ll show them,” said Hayes smiling at his wife.
He connected one end of the tiny, micro-cable to a transmitter leading to the television and stepped back.
“Victoria was right in her initial assessment of the threads in the suitcase. They carried information about flights, both commercial and military but that’s not all.
The fibers that Tanner, Bogey, and Benji brought back were an upgrade.
“The new fibers not only allow the data to be downloaded, but it allows data to be sent to the fibers in real time. It’s like a portable radio without the dials.”
“Explain, Hayes. This doesn’t make any sense to me,” said Gator.
“Let’s say April is wheeling through the airport with her suitcase. She passes by a rebooking desk and the sensors within the fibers take the information in, recognize who has been moved and to which flights, which flights were cancelled or delayed. She keeps walking.
“Later, she’s in the employee lounge waiting with other flight personnel. Pilots are getting updates on routes, weather, mechanical issues on planes, all of it. Her little suitcase, or Jerry’s, was taking all that in.
“Then, when she’s actually onboard the flight, the suitcase, generally sitting within reach of the cockpit, is now accessing all the flight data for every plane in that region. And then it’s sending it to another source.”
“Holy fuck,” muttered Ham. “I kept thinking the data would be old by the time someone got it but it wasn’t.”
“It was originally,” said Victoria, “but they found a way to make everything occur in real time. Keep in mind, even the old way was effective because they could figure out patterns, especially with military flights. Commercial flights are too dependent on weather conditions, mechanical problems, crews coming in late, that sort of thing. But military flights tend to run repeatable exercises and patterns of flying. I think that’s what they were truly looking for. ”
“I agree with Victoria,” said Hayes, “but I also think knowing who was on which commercial flights provided them with valuable information. Anyone they wanted dead could be blown out of the sky.”
“And private jets?” asked Ham.
“They would know those as well.”