“What do you mean? I thought you stumbled across it.”
“That’s just it. I didn’t. We didn’t. The compound wasn’t in any of the zones we were searching.”
“So Nicole—”
“It came up on her screen—somehow—that’s all I know for sure. I have to believe we saw what the kidnappers wanted us to see exactly when they wanted us to see it. All of this so far has gone according to their plan.”
“So you don’t think Nicole’s in on it—that she’s one of them?”
“I don’t know,” Danny said. “But we can’t tip her—or anyone else—off to anything we’ve discussed here. Not until we know more.”
Governor Barnes agreed.
After Danny hung up with the governor and spoke to Damien, he expressed his concerns to the rest of us. “The DTF operatives in Area 52 are people just like us. They have their loyalties as we do, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be compromised. They’re as skilled as they come—and are all capable of manipulating the system. Wouldn’t you say, Keena?”
She nodded. “It’d be pretty easy for any of them.”
“You seem to be suggesting you know who set this up,” Kate noted.
Danny nodded. “Set it up? That I’m not sure of. But to guarantee no one found the house earlier when we were searching the satellite feed Nicole preset all the screens on specific coordinates. She delayed us—wasted our time—and then suddenly found the property outside the coordinates. Too convenient to be coincidence.”
“But we wouldn’t have even known about the ELF idea in the first place if it wasn’t for Nicole. So why would she have wanted us to get a message to the carrier if she’s helping them?” Kate sounded unconvinced.
“Hang on.” Danny held up a hand. “I don’t think she’s necessarily helping them. Obviously it looks that way, but maybe she was forced to do what she did, and sending a message to the aircraft carrier might not have had an effect on anything else.”
I am so lost. “Okay.” I couldn’t take it anymore. “Explain this to the rest of us, so we can understand what the heck you’re saying… or is it just me that’s confused?”
There was a hot-potato exchange of glances around the room but no comments. Maybe it was just me.
“I think what Danny’s trying to say is that the kidnappers have something on us…” Blake volunteered. “… and they could have leverage on Nicole too.”
“So you’re not going to do anything about it?” Frustration was eating me alive. Seriously?
“Exactly.” Danny nodded. “Without knowing specifically what’s involved, if I pull Nicole out now, I could threaten whatever—or whoever—they’re holding over her.”
I didn’t like it. It still didn’t make perfect sense to me, but I wasn’t going to mention that now—not when everyone else seemed to understand Danny’s theory. I had thought all the operatives lived at Area 52 and never left there specifically so they couldn’t become a security breach. Isn’t that the whole idea? So do these people have one of Nicole’s siblings? Or her parents? What is their leverage? Does it even matter? If Nicole was helping them, she had to have a reason compelling enough for her. I’d have done anything to save my daughter and Emily, no matter who asked me, so I definitely could understand. But I still didn’t like it.
Danny decided he needed to go talk to Nicole in person, and he asked Tara and Kate to go along with him. Blake, Trigger, and Twix went as well, and Axel flew them all to the Hexagon. Deacon, Keena, and Royce stayed here with the rest of us. We’d watch the meeting via satellite.
When Danny arrived at the Hexagon, he directed Damien to open up a secure direct feed between the interrogation room at Area 52 and the computer we had on Redemption. Danny looked up into the camera and told Keena to kill the line if she caught any sign of someone tapping in to the feed—even from inside the Hexagon.
We watched from the computer in Blake’s office as Nicole knocked on the interrogation room door and entered. Danny and Kate were the only ones in there with her. Danny must not trust Tara’s emotional state. Nicole looked nervous. Then again, my hands were shaking, and I wasn’t anywhere near there. Nicole sat down and looked at Danny and Kate. We couldn’t see her face clearly, but her voice was noticeably shaky when she spoke. “What’s this about, Danny?”
“Nicole, the only way this goes bad for you is if you pretend you don’t know why I’m here talking to you right now.” He paused. “You have my word. I will not act on anything before tonight. Nothing… I promise.”
I saw her wipe her face a couple times and knew Danny was right. She is involved. Dang it. How did I not get any of this?
“Danny, I’m sor—I’m so sorry.”
“I need to know what’s going on, Nicole. Who are we dealing with here, and what do they have on you?” He tossed the patch from the boat onto the table and tapped the emblem. “Who are you working for?”
She glanced at the patch then up at Danny in obvious surprise. “I have no idea what that is. And… have on me?” We saw her look at Kate then back at Danny. “N-n… nothing. They don’t have anything on me. You mean…wait, you don’t know? Why are you—”
Now Danny looked surprised. “I don’t know what?”
Nicole looked like she had several different thoughts she wanted to express at that point—like she didn’t know where to start.
“Come on, Nicole,” Danny urged.
“They… they don’t have anything on me. They have Hayley. Hayley is on the aircraft carrier with Lazzo.”
Danny stood up suddenly, his chair slamming back against the wall. His “What?” preceded mine by a millisecond. “Nicole, you’re certain Hayley is on that ship?” He almost yelled the question.
She nodded. “Pretty sure, yes. Lazzo forced her…”
“I know what happened. So she’s…”
I was stunned. I sank into a chair, and Keena turned to look at me. Was Nicole saying what I thought she was saying? A glance at Dad’s stricken face and I knew she was. Hayley was one of the “terrorists” they’d killed on the carrier. Hayley is dead. I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. I stared blankly at the screen that had become a blur.
“How do you know that?” Danny’s voice remained clear—and remarkably composed.
“I was going to tell you when I found out… I just didn’t know how. I knew you were already thinking it, so I didn’t want to say it. I knew you’d be upset—”
“Wait, you think I’m here because I found out you held out on me?”
“No.” Nicole shook her head. “Well, not exactly. I thought you were here because you knew I’d had contact with the people working with Lazzo.”
“The people in the house on Kauai?”
She shook her head again. “No.”
“There are more people involved in this?” Kate revealed her own surprise.
The hits just keep on coming.
“I…I don’t know that for sure. It could be the same people, but they were here on Oahu—they were at the Marine Corps Base Station I sent the ELF message from.”
“Okay, let’s start there. Tell me about that.” Danny leaned forward in his chair.
Nicole took a deep breath. “Okay. When I went to the base to send the message, I wasn’t the only one there. I sent the message, as you requested, but as I was leaving someone put a gun to my head and told me never to come back there. Wait…”