Kate pointed at him. “Because I read your parent agency’s own reports of what happened in Argentum. I devoured them, and the Homeland Security reports. I questioned the authors of both reports. I reviewed every single bit of available information. And the conclusion was unquestionable: There was no proof of any mass abductions or their return. This comes from your government agencies—”
“Not mine. You never read the reports from the SSA,” Flynn said with a scowl.
“Because until five minutes ago, I didn’t believe that you even existed.”
“Flynn, thank you for delaying your trip. You should have been in the air an hour ago.” The director motioned to the door.
The agent looked at Kate for a moment, clearly wanting to say something, and then walked out.
As the door shut, Mark said quietly, “Senator—”
“I will not waste a second more of my time on these theories. I want to know who has my nephew.”
“There’s a second video. Please take a moment to watch.”
As she exhaled, he reached around to his keyboard and opened another window. This time, the video came from a steady camera showing a landing strip.
“The camera was mounted on one of our helicopters. Watch that Porsche driving up and the van behind it. I’ll zoom in. Our agents shot out the tires, so don’t be alarmed by the bullet sound.”
Kate held her breath, her arms folded across her chest. She watched as the van pulled up to the stalled Porsche and a man in a mask with a long rifle jumped out. He forced open the door, and another man, also wearing some sort of mask, held up a gun to the front seat.
“Who the hell is that?” she demanded.
“We don’t know.”
Moments later, a tall man with red hair emerged from the car with what looked to be the same little girl from the earlier video. As the agents scrambled towards them, the girl pointed in their direction.
Kate watched as once again, they began to twitch and fall.
“My God,” she said.
A moment later, William and another man from the Porsche were practically shoved into the van, with the girl scrambling to follow.
“Wait a minute,” Kate said, pointing to the screen. “Is that—?”
The director paused the video. “Quincy Martin. Yes.”
“What in the world is he doing there? Is he in on this?”
“We are actively reaching out to his company to find out. We know that Wired magazine is reporting that Mr. Martin has been privately voicing to investors that he’s wanted, for a long time, for your nephew to endorse his latest version of a hologram app. Turns out his competitors are scrambling to release their own. Apparently, he’s been frustrated by his inability to find William.”
“He also happens to be a complete conspiracy nut who regurgitates abduction theories.”
“We’re aware.”
“Please keep playing the video.”
Kate reminded herself to breathe as she watched the van spin around, seemingly waffling as to what to do, and then ram into the tail of the helicopter that had landed behind it. After pushing the helicopter, it drove out of the gate.
The director then closed the laptop. “What you don’t see is that someone in that van then threw out spike strips to slow anyone chasing them. But unfortunately, we had no ground pursuit. And by the time we got our helicopter that was still operational in the air, they were gone.”
Kate knew she was trembling. “My God. All those agents…”
“Their bodies, and those from the field, were recovered and placed in our helicopter before anyone in the media could make it there,” Mark said.
“That girl…”
“It’s why we had to show you, Senator. So you understand.”
“And there’s a dead civilian killed by live fire from our agents—”
“She was also recovered before the media arrived. I promise you a full investigation is underway into that terrible mistake.”
Kate began to pace, looking back at the screen. “What the hell did I just see, Director?”
“There’s much we need to discuss. Please take a seat.”
“We have God knows how many dead federal agents, an active kidnapping of my nephew, and apparently a nut-job billionaire. And I just watched a little girl kill those agents without touching them.”
“You understand our concern.”
“The most important question: Where are they now?”
“We don’t know. We are scrambling to get agents on the interstates and side roads. It’s a somewhat isolated area for us. We sent most of our agents in the helicopters, never anticipating it would go…”
“This badly? Because it’s bad, Director. I know very little of your branch, but surely you’ve made the FBI director aware. Even if the media doesn’t know—at the moment—about the deaths of these agents, they will soon. The FBI has its fair share of leakers. My God, the president needs to know as well.”
“The FBI director is well aware of the dire situation at hand. But as you know, he and the president don’t see eye to eye on most things. Which is why, frankly, we need you to understand just how serious this has become.”
“I think all the director has to do is show that video to the president and he will be quite alarmed.”
Mark began to click the pen in his hand. “Do you recall what happened when Agent Hallow came to you with his theories?”
Kate remembered vividly throwing him out of her office personally, and telling her secretary never to allow him to return. The agent had left his business card and yelled something about calling him when she’d realized the truth.
She motioned to the laptop. “I don’t even know what to make of it. But if federal agents are dead, then the president must know immediately.”
“We’re hoping you will be the one to show it to him.”
“And tell him what, exactly? I don’t even know how to explain what I saw. I’ve spent the last fifteen years stamping out the ridiculous theories surrounding my family.”
“We will fully brief you on what we know. Now that you’ve seen the video, and your nephew is involved, you know the stakes. And frankly, it has to happen right now. In fact, neither the president nor any of his cabinet even know about the SSA. And there’s a reason for this—”
“I don’t even know what SSA stands for, for Christ sake.”
“Sky Surveillance Agency. Truman created the agency and ordered it to act independently of our government. That was when they started keeping the files.”
“The files?”
The director reached into his desk and pulled out two thick binders. “And I want you to read these in particular.”
“What are these?”
“Copies of the files of everything we know about your family.”
Kate suddenly felt hot all over.
“You have files on my family?”
“We have files on all the abducted.”
She looked at the voluminous black folders as if they were venomous snakes. “I’m sorry, but how can these even exist after everything I’ve been provided from the FBI that contradicts that notion—”
“We are independent, as I stated before. Please begin with this one. It’s about your mother. Unfortunately, it lacks some important documents, which were stolen.”
“Stolen?”
He slid the folder towards her.
“We don’t just have to contain your nephew and that girl, Senator,” he said. “We must find them all. Your mother must be brought in as well.”
The sound of her cell phone ringing brought on a brief moment of relief. Lynn stood from her vigil in front of the television in Tom’s study and walked to the door. Roxy leaned back in her chair, looking at her questioningly.