If only he weren’t in a coma I could’ve asked him.
But he was in a coma. And according to the doctors, he wouldn’t be coming out of it any time soon.
A few minutes after Lien-hua fell asleep Ralph and Tessa arrived.
Tessa went in to sit with Lien-hua, and I tottered into the hallway to talk with Ralph about the case.
After we were alone I asked him about the Project Rukh researchers. “Are they all OK?”
“Yeah, I just talked to Margaret. They’re all safe. Being debriefed as we speak. Except this one guy, Kurvetek. Osbourne mentioned him. We haven’t been able to track him down yet.”
I let that sink in.
“And, by the way, Margaret told me why it’s called Project Rukh.”
I didn’t even want to think about Margaret, but I was curious about the name so I took the bait. “Why is that?”
“Turns out rukh is a Persian word. Back when chess was invented, it was the name of the piece we call a rook. It used to mean either ‘war chariot’ or ‘hero,’ and later, when chess made it to Europe, the piece morphed to look like a siege tower. The idea was the same, though-by using your rukh, you could slip past your enemy’s defenses and then take him out before he even knew what hit him.”
“And that’s exactly what the device does.”
“Right.”
“Slipping past their defenses, taking them out unaware,” I said.
“Maybe they should have called it a Ralph.”
“Kind of you to say so.” He drained the last few drops of his extra-large breakfast Mountain Dew. “Oh yeah. I almost forgot. Graysmith and Dunn are looking into another homicide-General Cole Biscayne was shot in the head last night. No leads yet, last I heard. One bit of good news though. That girl, Randi, she was just hiding out at a friend’s place, afraid of the ‘terrorists.’ She’s all right.”
“Good. What about the device?”
“You’re a good shot, Pat. It’s destroyed. And, although most of the files are gone, Margaret is going over the ones Drake didn’t have a chance to shred.”
“I’m sure she is. And Cassandra?”
“She’s fine. Spent last night and this morning in a safe house. I guess she’s gonna take some time off work to recover. Last I heard, they were dropping her off at the aquarium so she could say good-bye to her friends and some guy named Warren Leant.”
I began to press out the last few wrinkles of the case. And I didn’t like where they pointed. “She’s at the aquarium? With Leant?”
He shrugged. “I guess.”
“Ralph, have those agents stay with her.”
“Why? Melice is dead, Terry’s in a coma-”
“No. Trust me. Don’t let them leave her alone with him.”
“Why not?”
“A blind spot. Let’s go.”
He put the call through to the agents, I ducked into Lien-hua’s room and told Tessa I’d be back in an hour or so, and then Ralph and I headed for the car.
107
Warren Leant met us at the door of the Sherrod Aquarium, and I politely requested that he lead us to the animal husbandry area.
“Is everything all right?”
“We’ll see,” I said.
A few moments later we entered the husbandry area, and he asked if we wouldn’t mind to please hurry. “I have a board of directors meeting. A man was eaten by sharks here last night and it’s a public relations nightmare. I’m sure you understand. We meet in half an hour.”
“You might be late.” I eyed the pool where Lien-hua had drowned staring at the surface, straining toward freedom. “I’d like to look around for a minute. Ralph, can you wait with Mr.
Leant?”
“Sure thing.”
I whispered something to Ralph and then the two of them left together as I scanned the room. The criminalists had spent the night processing the site, and the only person they’d allowed back here was Cassandra, who I noticed was clearing out her office. On the ride to the aquarium Ralph had told me that the two field agents guarding her were still with her, but I didn’t see them in the room.
Cassandra recognized me and set down the box she was carrying.
“I need some time away,” she explained. “Some space. This whole thing, it’s too much for me.”
I nodded. I understood.
“You OK?” she asked, eyeing the crutches. “I will be. What about you?”
“I think so. Once this is all behind me.”
“That may take awhile,” I said. “Because you made one mistake.
Or maybe two.”
Just a glint of bewilderment in her eyes. Just a glint. “What are you talking about?”
“You looked at the camera, Cassandra. None of the other women did.”
Her right index finger became restless against her leg. “What camera?”
“Cassandra, please.” I leaned unsteadily on my crutches. “From where you stood in the tank, it wasn’t possible to see the camcorders. I know, I checked. All the other women stared toward freedom, but you stared at the back wall of the warehouse. You told me yesterday you didn’t know what Melice was doing while you were in the tank. But you did know. You made it easier for him to make the video by staring at one camera and then the other. You knew where they were because you put them there.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” But her eyes betrayed her.
“I’d assumed Shade was one person instead of two. That’s what threw me off, but now I get it. You, or maybe Terry, switched the chains. It was that simple. I counted the links. The other women had a shorter chain. You’re nearly six feet tall, and the chain on your ankle was long enough for you to reach the surface, even when the tank was full. You put on a good show though, gasping for breath like that, but I’m guessing that after all your years of scuba diving and running triathlons, you can hold your breath pretty well too.
Maybe two, three minutes? Plenty of time, even while we were there trying to break you out of the tank. So tell me, did you buy the warehouse, or was that Terry?”
“You’re insane.”
Cassandra looked past me toward the door. I thought maybe she was going to rush me. On crutches I knew I couldn’t either run or defend myself.
Where are those two agents?
Before she could try anything, I went on, “I’m guessing the security at the base was too tight for you to get into Building B-14.
That’s why you and Terry couldn’t steal the device yourselves. So, who found Austin? Did Terry? Or did you? Either way, you seduced Austin, gained his trust, his love, and the rest is history.”
“Why would I let myself get kidnapped?” She began edging toward the staircase beside the acclimation pool.
I took two feeble steps toward her on my crutches.
“Answer me that,” she said. “Why would I stand in that tank for twelve hours?”
I watched her carefully. “To get the one thing that matters most to you.”
“And that is?”
“I have no idea, I’m not too into motives.” And then, she bolted toward the stairwell beside the pool, but Ralph emerged from the mouth of the stairs where I’d whispered for him to have Warren Leant lead him. The two agents followed closely behind.
Cassandra made the mistake of trying to shove Ralph back down the stairs but he grabbed both of her arms, whipped her around, and had her on the floor and cuffed before she knew what hit her.
Project Ralph.
She struggled uselessly against him for a moment, then as he helped her to her feet, she leered at me, an unholy darkness descending across her face. “You still don’t understand.” Her voice, which had been relaxed and normal just a few moments earlier, now seared the air between us. “You have no idea what we have planned, Agent Bowers. No idea.”
“You’re right,” I said, “I don’t. I’m just an investigator not a mind reader. Take her away, Ralph.” I began to hobble toward the door. “My leg is really starting to hurt and I could use another cup of coffee.”
108
Twilight
Tessa and I would be flying back to Denver tomorrow morning, so after the funeral we decided to visit the beach one last time to watch the sun set over the ocean.