“And?”
“No one there,” he said. “One window broken in the back kitchen door, said door unlocked and ajar. Lights on, a TV dinner in the microwave, but no signs of violence. They found this cell phone, but nothing else indicating trouble.”
“Can I keep that?” I asked.
He looked at it for a second and then, obviously perplexed, handed it over.
“Anyone check the pier?” I asked before he could ask me any more questions.
“The pier?” he said. “Oh. You think this is the good colonel? Come by boat?”
“The not-so-good colonel, Sergeant,” I said. The three uniformed cops were listening, so I suggested he and I take a little walk. I filled him in.
“A greenhouse full of snakes?” he exclaimed. “I’d heard that was his nickname, but I had no idea. But why would he take Dr. Quartermain?”
“I think he’s going to the power plant. He needs Ari to penetrate the vital area security systems. It takes two people to get through the important doors, and his own cards have been disabled. He’s going to do something, but I don’t know what.”
McMichaels stared out into the dark river. “Do something at Helios,” he said quietly. “Do I need to trigger the area incident alert system?”
“I think we need to call the Bureau, tell them Quartermain’s missing.”
“Wonderful idea,” he said. “I’ll get someone to go have a look down at the boathouse.”
I had the RA’s office number on my cell phone, which I expected to get me a duty officer. Worse. It got me voice mail. I left a message that there were indications Dr. Quartermain had been kidnapped and that I urgently needed to speak with Special Agent Caswell.
We saw a cop climbing over the wall near the gate and went back to see what he had, which was not much. The landing float was wet, but there was a light chop out in the river, so waves could have done that. I wondered if Trask could have come alongside that float with a boat that big and still managed to tie it up by himself. It was possible, or maybe he had some help.
My cell went off. It was Creeps.
“Lieutenant,” he said amiably. “Quartermain kidnapped?”
I told him where I was and why.
“Oh, I think not, Lieutenant,” Creeps said. “I think we’re going to have to start calling you Lieutenant Bum-dope. I just got off the phone with Dr. Quartermain five minutes ago. He’s heard from Trask. We’re meeting at the container port in just under an hour.”
“The container port?”
“There’s an echo on this line,” he said. “Yes, the container port. Trask is arriving by boat, Dr. Quartermain by car, I presume. If he was under duress, he certainly didn’t sound like it. Homeland Security will be there, along with the usual federal suspects. Is there evidence of a struggle at Dr. Quartermain’s house?”
“Um, no, or not that the local police have found.”
“Oh, dear, you’ve gone and upset the local police? Is there a boss present?”
I said yes and gave the cell to McMichaels, who identified himself and then listened. I told Tony what Creeps had told me. Tony threw up his hands and shook his head. McMichaels thanked Creeps, closed the phone, and gave it back to me.
“Well,” he said, looking a bit embarrassed. “No harm, no foul, I suppose.”
I didn’t believe it. Not that Creeps was lying, but that Ari was on his way anywhere voluntarily. To prove that, though, I had to get to the plant, and there was no way the gate people were going to let us in. If I had a boat… but I didn’t have a boat, and it wasn’t likely the marina would rent me another one. McMichaels was rounding up his people.
“There’s no way Trask can just drive up into that canal,” I said to Tony. “We know they have that whole area under surveillance.”
“It’s his people who have it under surveillance,” Tony pointed out unhelpfully.
“How else could he get in there?”
“Get in where?” McMichaels said as he rejoined us..
I explained my problem. The sergeant gave me a patient look, as in, Why are we still talking about this – you heard the Bureau.
“People like to fish around power plants,” I said. “Something about the warm water. Is there another way to get close to the plant by boat, besides that intake canal from the Cape Fear River?”
“Certainly,” he said. “The tailrace canal. That’s where the warm water is, by the way. Not on the intake side.”
I wanted to execute a Polish salute. Of course that’s where the warm water was. That’s where those two enormous jets came out of the condensers below the generator hall.
“Can you lead us there?”
“I can, but of course I’d be wanting to know why.”
“Well, we’re not going to swim up the tailrace and break into the power plant, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Oh, I know that, Lieutenant. You haven’t seen the tailrace when the plant is running.” He paused for a moment. “You get something into your head, you don’t let go, do you?”
“Not when I think I’m right, and especially when I hope I’m wrong.”
He thought about that. “If it were anything but Helios,” he said, “I’d be firmly requesting you to exit the jurisdiction. But.”
“But you know the government’s first instinct is to cover itself when they suspect someone’s made a big mistake.”
“Indeed I do,” he said. “Okay, I’ll take you. Let me get these boys on their way. Although getting in via the tailrace is just not possible.”
What I knew that the sergeant didn’t was that the plant wasn’t running. The tailrace would be quiet as a millpond.
McMichaels led us down a narrow dirt road that seemed to be going absolutely nowhere until we popped out on the banks of a broad creek. The perfectly straight banks indicated that it was man-made. No current was visible, just a strip of dark water perhaps eighty feet wide. We got out of our vehicles and walked to the bank. To our right, the only light was the occasional sweep of a lighthouse that had to be several miles away. To our left, above the trees, was the loom of the power plant’s lights, although the buildings themselves were not visible.
“I think I need to take these dogs for a walk, Sergeant,” I told McMichaels.
“I understand perfectly, Lieutenant,” he said with a grin. “By the by, I was just thinking that perhaps this would be a good juncture for me to resume my domestic duties back at home, from which I was so rudely summoned.”
“This would be a great time to be at home, Sergeant,” I said. “But may I please have your phone number?”
His grin vanished. “Look, boyo,” he said. “If you discover that some evil bastard has or is about to let the fire genie out of that handsome power plant over there, you call me at once. I kid thee not. We all love our power plant, but we have few illusions about what could happen should all those smart boys manage to muddle things up, eh?”
“I promise,” I said. “I think what Trask has in mind is a scare, not a disaster. He keeps talking about a wake-up call.”
“Nine-eleven was called a wake-up call, Lieutenant. If the scary colonel has truly gone mad, he may no longer be able to tell the difference.”
Tony and I got our gear, locked the cars, and set out with the dogs a few minutes later. We had entered McMichaels’s phone number into our respective cell phones. Tony’s battery was fresh; mine was showing faded green bars on the battery icon. We’d put on our tactical vests. Tony carried a shotgun in addition to his Glock. I stuck with my SIG and sent the shepherds out ahead. There was a cleared walkway along the tailrace canal, like a towpath. I had Tony stay about thirty yards behind me in case we walked into something unexpected. The sliver of moon did little to illuminate the woods, but as we got closer to the power plant, all those perimeter lights made the moon superfluous.
Then we got a surprise. We saw the Keeper, or a boat very similar to it, sitting out in the middle of the tailrace.
We simultaneously faded left into the woods, and I waited for Tony to catch up to me. The shepherds came hustling back when they realized I was no longer following them.