Scott frowned. “It’s getting stuffy in here, and the internet is patchy.”
Nick looked up at him. “Stay in your room.”
“Aw, come on, Dad.”
“Stay in there!”
Scott blinked in astonishment before abruptly turning around and dashing back into his bedroom. The boy slammed the door shut before Cathy could say or do anything to comfort him.
She turned her head and looked at her husband. “You didn’t have to be so rude to him.”
Nick sighed. He felt like screaming in rage, but kept his feelings in check. “I’ll make it up to him later. Right now if that goddamn security chief doesn’t come by here in five minutes I’ll head over to their goddamn opening party and raise hell.”
Cathy shook her head slowly, drifting over to the kitchenette. “Did you email the embassy?”
Nick nodded, keeping his attention on the laptop screen. “And the FBI too, but I don’t know if it got through yet.”
“Wouldn’t it say ‘email sent’ or something?”
Nick grimaced. “That’s the problem. My net connection keeps getting timed out every few minutes, and I have to refresh the web page of my email.”
Cathy tapped the mini-bar counter nervously with her nails. “Do you really think all that information Scotty found is true?”
Nick continued to maintain his composure. It was evident to him that Cathy was still in denial over Taylor Erskine’s deceptions concerning the island’s private estate, and the only way to convince her was to confront the security chief directly. “Kim’s gotta be in that private area, Cathy. I just know it.”
“How sure are you? Maybe they’re at sea?”
“They’re hiding something over th—”
Nick’s words were interrupted by a knock on the door. Cathy was closer, and she quickly covered the distance and opened it.
Taylor Erskine made his usual lying smile before walking into the cottage’s interior. “I got word you wanted to see me again.”
Nick quickly got on his feet. “Yes, you’ve got a lot to answer for.”
Erskine quickly went on the defensive as Cathy closed the door behind him. “What do you mean? We have the staff doing a continuous search for your daughter even though the resort’s opening ceremonies are ongoing this evening.”
Nick bared his teeth as he took a step closer and pointed an accusing finger at the resort’s chief of security. “You’ve been hiding things from me and my family.”
Erskine continued to smile. “Mr. and Mrs. Dirkse, I can assure you both I have given you all the information that’s come through my desk. We’re doing everything we can to find your daughter.”
“You left out a couple of things,” Nick said, his voice dripping with antipathy. “Like you telling the search teams not to go near the other side of this island.”
Erskine shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mr. Dirkse. Of course I had my people search the other side, and they reported that both your daughter and the employee she was last seen with weren’t there.”
Nick held up his smartphone so the other man could see the screenshot on it. “Your own memo says something totally different. It’s obvious that you have cordoned off that entire part of the island, and you even threatened to fire any of your staff who dared to disobey this directive!”
Erskine’s look held a mixture of dismay and anger. “Those are my private files! How did you get access to that?”
Nick wanted to hit him, but he hoped that reason would prevail. “Look, I know you’re just doing your job because I have the other memos between you and this Morgenstern guy. But right now my daughter is missing, and the one place you haven’t looked is right next to this whole resort.”
Erskine held his hands out pacifyingly. This guy is a software developer, so he must have hacked into my computer. Well, not all the details are in there and I can still cover this up. “I think we all should just take a deep breath for the moment. This is not the time to become emotional.”
Cathy had a contemptuous look on her face. “You won’t get away with this you know. We’ve already contacted the embassy and the FBI, and they’ll be coming down on you very soon. Tell us the truth.”
It’s a good thing I’ve cut off the internet and the island’s cell site a few hours ago so they never got your messages, bitch, Erskine thought. “I’m afraid you’ve got it all wrong. I can assure you that I got permission from Mr. Morgenstern himself to search the private estate, and your daughter wasn’t there.”
Cathy shook her head slowly as Nick got closer and stood beside her. “You’re lying. I know it.”
“Alright,” Nick said. “I’d like to go over to the private estate and take a look for myself to make sure Kim’s not there.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Erskine said tersely.
“Why not?” Nick demanded.
“Because I already told you she’s not there,” Erskine said. “I interviewed the staff who saw her together with Mr. Oliver Marriot and it seems they were in love and could have run away together for all we know.”
It was Cathy’s turn to get angry. “My daughter would never do that!”
“I’m just speculating, but she is certainly not in the private estate,” Erskine said. “I’m having inquiries made on the neighboring islands if they show up over there, so we all need to just wait for now.”
Cathy placed her head on Nick’s shoulder and began to sob.
“Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall,” Nick said. “I want to see Kazimir Morgenstern.”
“I’m sorry but you can’t,” Erskine said. “He’s busy this entire evening.”
“Where’s the general manager?”
“He’s busy entertaining guests. When he has the time, he’ll drop by for sure.”
Nick clenched his jaw. Fighting with this guy is pointless. He could see the lump of a weapon beneath the other man’s coat. “If anything happens to Kim I’m holding you responsible, you hear me?”
Erskine remained unfazed. My employer has an army of lawyers, fool. “I hear you. Like I said, we’re doing our best. I need to go back to my office. If there’s any updates, I’ll let you know.”
They both watched him leave. Cathy continued to cry while holding onto Nick. As a parent she had never felt so helpless before.
“It’s okay,” Nick whispered into her ear.
Cathy made an audible snort while wiping the tears from her cheeks. “What are we going to do?”
“We need to find a way to get into that private estate.”
35
THE THREE MEN COULD barely fit in the small inflatable dinghy as they used their hands to paddle towards the white sandy beach just ahead of them. They could see the glittering lights coming from the hotel in the near distance, and it looked like there was a party going on. Vaikom Menon, Muli Tharoor, and Franklin Alexander had gotten onto the latter’s dinghy, while the fishing boat took a circuitous route southwards in order to get closer to a sand bank, allowing the other protestors to wade in through shallower water.
Vaikom could hardly believe their luck. It seemed there were no hotel staff looking out at the moonlit ocean when they got to within visual range, and they had managed to make it onto the white sand beach. Their clothes were dripping wet as they each quickly put on their shoes while huddling underneath a darkened canopy of trees.
Franklin looked around. It seemed they had landed close to the demarcation line between the resort and the Morgenstern private estate. He could see a sandy path up ahead leading towards an encampment surrounded by a chain-link fence. He kept his voice low. “So now what?”