Pop Travel (37 page)

“That’s my girl. Never doubted you for a second.” He nodded. “What’s your next move?”

“I’m taking Hasan back to the plantation. I wanted to stop and check in, since it’s been over twelve hours since I last communicated with you.” She gave him a weak chuckle.

“Right. You’ve had quite an adventure. We will have to catch up after you drop him off.”

“Drop him off? I thought I would stick around and help with the repercussions between him and PTI.”

“Oh, no. You’ve done a great job. But you need to get some much deserved and needed rest. Blake will handle the rest of the boring details. He’ll be waiting for you at the plantation security headquarters for the hand off.” Despite what she reported, he doubted her intentions and would have to confirm her loyalty.

“Of course. It will be nice to get some sleep. I forgot how exhausted I was.” She smiled and yawned.

“Off you go, then. We’ll let you know when you need to come in for debriefing.”

“Yes, sir.” When they disconnected, Ed turned to Nate.

“Did you see what happened before she popped?”

“They raced around the city. When they split up, Geri took Hasan to the transport station and Blake followed Cooper. We’re waiting for him to check in.”

“See if you can reach him.”

“Yes, sir.” Nate opened the frame.

Blake had a stony scowl chiseled into his rugged features.

“What’s the story, Blake?”

“Cooper got away.” Blake spoke through gritted teeth.

Ed figured that much.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s bound to do something stupid and we’ll be all over him like an android virus. Geri has the video and Hasan. I still have faith in my girl.”

“Yes, sir,” Blake answered. “But I think you should know, I suspect Harper has gotten attached to her marks.” Tension grated in Blake’s voice. He had the fury of a junkyard dog that hadn’t been fed in a week.

“Bah. Geri’s a pro. She is better than you think, if she had you believing her act.” Even if she had gotten attached, Ed had faith she would finish her mission, especially since she got away from Cooper. Geri would come through. “It’s a delicate matter, Blake. Go ahead back to the plantation and you can take over for her.”

Poor Geri. This assignment had exploded to epic proportions from the simple starter case he had expected for her. Not ready to undermine her and make himself look bad, he hoped he could avoid having to sic Blake on her. For now.

“Whatever you say, boss.” Blake disconnected.

Ed shook his head and moved on.

“Let’s see how Ray is handling the search for his missing prodigy,” Ed said to Nate with a chuckle.

“Yes, sir.” Nate rang Ray Saffioti’s QV.

Ray’s neurotic eyes and red-cheeked face appeared in another frame on the large imager at Nate’s station. Still in the security headquarters control room at the plantation, Ray couldn’t hide his pathetic condition. His sweaty brow and droopy lids advertised his stressed-out exhaustion.

“Ed? Do you know what time it is?” Ray asked.

“It’s seven in the morning. How was the party? Looks like you’re still over there.” Ed taunted him like a troublesome little brother.

“It went very well. I was just going over some security tapes with Manny, here.” Ray smoothed his hair. He was a terrible liar.

“So Hasan enjoyed his birthday?” Ed asked with a big, mocking grin, barely containing his mirth.

“Cut the crap, Ed,” Ray said, ending Ed’s game.

“Have you located Hasan yet?”

Ed knew every move Ray made. He had grown tired of holding the rug up for Ray to sweep his garbage under. The time had come to put an end to the irresponsible behavior of the miscreant PTI. Screw Vivienne and her threats to tattle to his wife about their affair. Ed would be handling things his way from now on.

“Of course. We are closing in on him as we speak.” Ray’s desperate eyes searched those in the room around him for answers as he lied.

Ed smiled again.

“Oh, good. We are too. We should work together to bring him in.”

Ray grasped for a handout.

“Certainly. What do you propose?”

“My people will secure Hasan and deliver him to the plantation. Apparently, he has come up with a solution to your little problem. Your job will be to have him write a report of his new findings and quietly distribute the fix to all travelports ASAP. Any other testing can be done during this temporary provision. You shouldn’t have to close the travelports, so we might be able to avoid a monumental disaster. Don’t you agree?”

“Of course. Yes. That sounds good.” Ray nodded like a bobblehead.

“Oh, and one of our agents will accompany Hasan at all times,” Ed added.

Ray grimaced.

“Is that really necessary? Our men could…”

“Is that going to be an issue?” Ed glared down his nose at Ray.

“No, but—”

“Good. Contact us with any new info.”

“Certainly.”

Ed disconnected.

“Let’s see what he does. Pull up his imager.” Ed crossed his arms, knowing who would be his first call.

Nate opened two frames, one for Ray’s imager and a second for whomever he contacted.

Ray speed-dialed Vivienne first.

I knew it!

“What now?” she shouted.

Ed pictured her in cartoon form, with steam shooting out of her ears. He smiled in delight.

“The Feds found Hasan and they’re bringing him back,” Ray said.

“Damn it, Ray! Of course they are! That damn Geri Harper popped out of Australia with him using that damn untraceable code!” Vivienne growled and it turned into clearing her throat. Her glass clinked as she grabbed it, full of ice wading in golden liquid. Jerking it around, not caring or realizing it, she splashed a couple of drops onto the webcam. “Now they have the high ground. We need to fix this, Ray. Or they will have their way with you.”

“I know. At least it looks like Hasan came up with a fix for the travelers. But now Ed is putting an agent on Hasan 24/7.” Ray gripped his forehead.

“Of course he is.” She sipped her drink. “Your overpaid security company couldn’t nab him.”

“Yes, they… Well, no. They reported a few hours ago they were following Hasan’s trail. Then things got out of hand. Those damn Feds are bullies. I can’t believe this is happening.” He dropped his head, talking to himself and moaning. Holding his face in his hands, he rocked back and forth.

Vivienne changed her tone.

“Calm down, my sweet.” Vivienne purred and drained her morning pick-me-up. “Let’s see what we have, shall we?”

“Okay. What?” He lifted his head and pouted at her.

Setting the glass down, Vivienne counted off points on her fingers.

“One. Hasan is coming back with the answer to our problem. Two. The Feds will take care of the detective and any incriminating videos when they pick up Hasan. Three. All we need to worry about is getting back on track. Once we have Hasan, we will be in control again. Business as usual.” Vivienne dusted off her hands and bared her teeth like a barracuda.

Ray gulped.

“I won’t feel good about it until Hasan is back in his lab.”

“Then get him back!” She pounded the desk. “Call me when you have him.” She made a large arc with her finger as she reached for her imager and disconnected.

Ray moped at the empty frame. His head flopped from side to side like a rag doll.

Ed couldn’t stand Ray’s spinelessness.
Pathetic.

Next, he called his second in command, Charles, who had obviously been sound asleep. Wearing a stretched-out, dingy white t-shirt, he yawned throughout Ray’s update.

When Ray finished, Charles gave a deep sigh.

“I’m not surprised. We all saw this coming,” he said, looking thoughtful, not shocked. He had a disturbingly calm façade.

“The good news is, Hasan found a solution. We just need to implement it,” Ray added.

“Well, yes, that’s good at least. Any word on the video or the detective?” Charles asked with another yawn.

“No. I’m sure Ed believes I don’t ‘need to know’ that information,” Ray said with a sneer.

“So what are we going to do now? Just sit and wait?”

“That’s why I called you! You are in this as deep as I am!” Ray shouted. He winced at his own outburst and calmed down. “Sorry, Charles. I called because I need you to handle the press release. Just in case the evidence does come out.”

Charles nodded.

“Yes. That’s a good idea. I should be able to have something ready this morning. I’ve had a few things written down if we ever needed to go public.”

“Thanks, old friend. Always prepared. I knew I could count on you. We should never have gotten involved with this cover-up in the first place. The next few hours will be crucial to the survival of PTI. I’ll call you in a while.”

“That’s enough,” Ed said to Nate, who closed the frames. “We’ll take care of them later. You have Paul keeping an eye on all three of them, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

Ed nodded. He had just enough time for a quick shower before his virtual conference meeting with Vivienne. Everything seemed to be falling back into place. And that made him worry.

“Any movement from Representative Cooper’s home or office?”

“No, sir. And nothing from his office or home CC’s, either.”

“Watch for unusual calls. If Cooper is still alive, he may try to contact his brother to get home.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Stay on it. I’ll be back.”

“Yes, sir.”

Athens, GA
6:30 a.m., Saturday, July 27

earing a powder blue, towel turban and a sharp new suit, courtesy of Dr. Rastogi’s credit card, Cooper emerged from the Athens-Ben Epps Transport Hub. He completed his look with darkly tinted skin from the hair dye, and a thick, brushy mustache. The customs agents hadn’t given him a second glance when they let him through, commenting to each other that he must be another international guest speaker for the University of Georgia. Cooper just nodded and smiled. Dr. Rastogi’s thumbprint mold had come in handy, working out better than Cooper expected.

Once he got into his rental car, thanks again to Hasan’s uncle, Cooper let out a huge sigh and drove toward home. It would be nice to be back in good old Walnut Grove.

Patting his breast pocket, he reassured himself the tiny drive with the video message, including the original recording from Audrey, was still safe. If everything went smoothly, he would to take it to the local news station, link up to the satellites, and broadcast it worldwide. One of the advantages to living in a small town; everyone was connected. Cooper had no doubt he could convince Kaleb, the executive producer, to uplink the video, especially once he saw it. Like any newshound, he would be compelled to air such an epic scoop.

When Cooper pulled into town, he went straight home, parking the rental behind his office. Wanting to avoid a scene, he needed to wash all the dye off his skin. No one would recognize him, and someone would probably call the sheriff to investigate the suspicious new guy in town. He didn’t have time for that explanation.

As he stepped into his apartment, he paused.
Whatever happened to Miki?

He hadn’t heard back from her or her mother. Hopefully, no news was good news. Without his QV, he couldn’t check on her just yet. He would have to call her as soon as he got to the station. Frowning about her, he jumped in the shower. Miki had to be okay. He couldn’t take another devastating loss.