“They don’t know about the case?”
“It’s possible. If there really is a splinter within the Politburo’s Standing Committee, one side may not know about the case.
“Seems like a long shot.”
Clay shrugged. “Not as much of a long shot as finding out the Chinese destroyed their own ship.”
“True.” Langford turned to Borger. “So where is this man and his case now?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’m… going to need to find a way into their systems and see what I can find out.”
“And how do you plan to do that?”
Borger grinned. “I’d rather not say.”
Langford’s lip curled. He was well aware of Borger’s background. Having worked as a network security expert in his former job, he was known as a “white hat.” A computer hacker who caught other “black hat” hackers. It was how they came to hire Borger. He was the only outside expert who had been able to catch two hackers trying to break into one of the Navy’s computer systems.
Langford hired him on the spot. Now, sitting across from him, even if Langford wanted to know what Borger had in mind, he sure as hell wouldn’t understand it.
“Fine,” he said, sighing. He placed his hands on his desk. “So, it appears we have two problems. If the Chinese do have the DNA from those plants or their crews turn something up from the Corvette’s wreckage, they could have the means to become the most powerful army on the planet.”
“They would be unstoppable.”
Langford eyed Borger. “In more ways than one.”
“Well,” Clay spoke up, “there is a third option.”
“Which is?”
“The monkey.”
Langford rubbed his forehead. “Right. The monkey. Have you gotten anything more on our new friend Otero?”
Clay nodded. “We think he’s going back to finish what Alves started.”
“So if the monkey is still alive, it could be a third source of the DNA.”
“Correct.”
Which means we’d better find it first,” Langford said. He stared at both men. “Where’s Caesare?”
Steve Caesare had just reached the single story terminal building of the Mercedita Airport. With a heavy bag slung over his good side, he climbed two steps and walked through a set of automatic sliding glass doors just beneath the giant earth tone letters reading “Aeropuerto Mercedita.”
It was a small airport whose runway had only recently been expanded to accommodate larger commercial jets. An expansion that now enabled the airport to process four times as many passengers to Ponce, Puerto Rico’s largest city in its southern region.
However, for Caesare, the airport’s importance was its convenient location, less than fifteen miles from the research center and Alison Shaw’s team.
The air conditioning inside created a light chill on his arms and neck. As Caesare approached an open row of seats near the back wall, he dropped his bag to the floor with a loud thud. He eased himself into the black vinyl chair with a quiet groan and peered up at the display hanging overhead. It listed arrivals and departures in bright green and amber letters. He found the flight he was looking for and checked his watch.
Less than fifty minutes left.
10
Sofia was beaming from alongside the tank as her father gently wrapped a towel around her wet body. On her other side, Sophia’s mother Lara slid a pretty scarf back over her head and tied it beneath her chin. Sophia’s giant smile was pure and beautiful as Alison bent down in front of her.
“Pretty great, huh?”
“Amazing!” Sofia answered excitedly through chattering teeth. She peered past Alison to Dirk and Sally, watching her with their heads bobbing above the water. “I can’t believe it!”
Alison winked. “No other kid has ever done that.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
The expression on Sofia’s face was priceless, but one look at her parents made Alison want to cry along with them. She couldn’t imagine how a parent could deal with losing a child. How they could even manage to go on, missing such a giant piece of their hearts. She was honored to have been able to make one of Sofia’s last days truly special, but now that she’d met her, Alison’s heart was already breaking.
She pursed her lips and straightened back up, just as DeeAnn stepped in closer. “Did you enjoy that, Sofia?”
“More than anything!”
“Excellent.” DeeAnn glanced at her parents kneeling behind her. “Do you need to leave or do we have a little more time?”
Lara placed her hands lightly on her daughter’s shoulders. “How do you feel, honey?”
“Really good.”
Lara nodded. “We have more time.”
“Good,” DeeAnn smiled. “So… Sofia, do you like gorillas?”
Dulce sat up straight when she heard the others approaching, a flower stem still gripped between her large teeth. She immediately sprang up and ran to the glass wall. She peered down the sloped walkway, trying to see into the darkened tunnel, and began clapping excitedly when she spotted DeeAnn pushing a small girl in a strange metal chair.
Mommy here! Mommy here!
The words emanated from behind Sofia through the new vest donned by DeeAnn. Alison and Lara followed behind with the four men in the rear. And Lee was right. The new vest was much more comfortable.
DeeAnn stopped near the large clear door and switched places with Alison. She entered the security code, grabbing the handle when the door gave a loud “click.” DeeAnn stepped in first as Dulce began jumping up and down. She raised her hands and lowered them calmly.
“Easy, Dulce. Easy.”
Dulce stopped with a huge grin. Dulce easy.
DeeAnn eyed her for a long moment before turning and waving Alison in with the chair. They stopped less than ten feet inside and spun the chair around.
“Dulce. This is Sofia. Sofia, meet Dulce.”
“Hi, Dulce.”
The small dark gorilla stared at Sofia curiously. She first studied the girl’s body and then her legs, following them down to the footrests of the chair. Examining the metal frame, Dulce tapped it with a finger. What this?
Sofia looked up to DeeAnn. “It’s a chair,” she replied hesitantly.
Her words took just over a second to be transmitted to IMIS before returning in translated form through DeeAnn’s vest speaker. Dulce listened and seemed to become even more fascinated by it. Finally, her large hazel eyes traveled back up to Sofia.
You small.
She giggled. “I am. But I think I’m still taller than you.”
DeeAnn laughed as Dulce frowned after hearing the translation. The young gorilla’s protruding lips quickly spread back into a grin and she took Sofia’s hand to shake it.
“She’s been having a lot of fun with handshaking lately,” DeeAnn whispered. “She’s noticed that people do it a lot when they meet.”
“Oh. Okay.”
When she was done, Dulce took back her hand, but quickly became curious about the colorful scarf over the girl’s head. She grabbed hold of the chair and raised herself up to get a closer look, then sniffed at the scarf. Without warning, she grabbed it with one hand and pulled it down.
Sofia jumped in surprise and instinctively reached up, but it was too late. Instead, all she could do was raise her shoulders in embarrassment.
Dulce had already begun pulling the scarf over her own head when she noticed Sofia’s bald skin on top. She immediately lowered the scarf and studied it. DeeAnn was about to interject when Dulce raised her hand and delicately rubbed the top of Sofia's head.
You head same Dulce head.
With a slight grin, Sofia replied, “I think you have a tiny bit more hair.”