Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack (14 page)

-Chapter 26-

Elizabeth picked us up on the edge of the road after thirty minutes of waiting in the itchy brush.  Elizabeth arranged for Margaret to be moved to a safe house on the outskirts of London.  We hoped Margaret would understand the explicit need to keep our visit quiet, because we needed to get out of the country quickly. 

I was silent during the drive back to
our hotel and the expansive city lights of London and I digested what we had just encountered.  Galveston and Elizabeth chattered incessantly the entire way.  Elizabeth had tasted the thrill of the hunt again and clearly liked it. 

Galveston
and I woke early the next morning.  I had slept in my clothes, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  We had a morning flight back to San Diego via New York City, and I was in charge of informing Jane of our plans.  I went to her door and knocked softly, still in my clothes from the previous day.  She answered wearing nothing but a huge, terry cloth robe that covered every inch of her body.

“
Rough night?” She asked, noticing my previously used attire.

“
You don’t want to know,” I answered, still half asleep.

I informed her of our
itinerary and our flight plans.  She too was half asleep with half closed eyes, and looking lovely as ever.  We were a weary crew, at least Jane and I.  Galveston proceeded to jump off the walls, however, as hyper as a six-year-old.  Obviously he must have had a good night.  We gathered our belongings and ourselves and took a shuttle to Heathrow.  I purposefully didn’t ask questions, I didn’t even want to contemplate the next step.  I was already too tired.

There hadn’t been a mention of
Elizabeth since we had awakened.  I applauded Galveston’s fortitude, until I saw him standing at the gate with a tall brunette.  It was Elizabeth and she had a small overnight bag filled with guns and daggers and nunchucks, I’m sure.

She had spoken directly to the
Chief of MI6 and had received special clearance the night before to work this case alone.  I realized I would now be fielding many love questions and body comments from Galveston.  That was the part I was not relishing.

Elizabeth
and Galveston were both working their cell phones before the flight.  Elizabeth was trying to ascertain who Margaret’s unwelcome visitors were, while Galveston spoke to Alex back in San Diego. I was sure Alex was sunning himself on his large backyard patio near the beach.

On the flight
Galveston and I were debriefed, my first.  Jane sat next to me, oblivious to our discussions, watching and listening on headphones to a bad, in-flight, teeny bopper movie.

“
I’ve always wanted to be debriefed,” I said to Galveston.

“
I was already debriefed last night,” Galveston said smirking.

“
Oh, that’s just sick,” I replied reaching for an in-flight magazine, and the barf bag.

I was used to his sophomoric humor, but I prayed he was kidding, trying to avoid the visual. 
Elizabeth slid us a few papers from her seat, not hearing our witty repertoire.

“
I have the information on our infiltrators,” she said in her eloquent British accent.  “Our agent in intel tracked the airports, train stations, and car rentals in the surrounding area around the time of the break-in.  A line worker at South Hampton airfield loaded a Dessault Falcon jet at about 9:40 P.M. yesterday evening with nine men.  The plane was to arrive in Paris at Charles De Gaulle Airport.  Apparently, the plane diverted to the Canary Islands before taking off again for Paris.  I’m still waiting on the customs information from the Canaries.  The plane is registered to a private contractor, Le Ciel Aviation, out of Paris.”

Galveston
and I were beginning to nod off from this wealth of information, but Elizabeth continued.

“
The company that hired the plane was a company from Belgium called Montenegro Exploration Limited.  That’s it, that’s all I have.”

I continued to nod off, but sensing something
Galveston looked odd and stared straight ahead with surprise on his face.

“
What was that name again, the ones who hired them?”  He asked Elizabeth.

Elizabeth
ran her hand down the paper.  “Montenegro Exploration Limited.  Why?  We checked them out.  It’s a North Sea oil exploration company.”  Galveston shook his head in disbelief. 

“
What?”  Elizabeth stared at him.

“
It’s a front, it doesn’t exist.”

“
What do you mean it doesn’t exist, and a front for what?”

“
It’s a front for Black Bear Security.”  With these words Elizabeth’s eyes grew cold and even the hairs on my neck began to shiver.

“
For Black Bear?”  She asked. 

“
The same Black Bear you worked for?”  I inquired.

“
No a different Black Bear,” Galveston replied bitingly.  “Yes the same Black Bear.  It’s the front company for their European covert operations.  Black Bear Security has front organizations to hide their more unscrupulous activities.  It is actually a real company that’s involved in oil exploration, but they use its freedom of movement and its funds to run covert operations in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.  What better way to move people and supplies around the world than looking for oil,” Galveston explained to Elizabeth and me.

“
But why the Canaries?”  Elizabeth asked.

“
I’m sure they offloaded there and took another flight or a boat, who knows, but we’re dealing with mercenaries here, from Black Bear.”

We all sat dumbfounded at the earth shattering news. 
How could a private organization have such a sophisticated system?

Galveston
continued.  “This confirms they’re behind Dr. Sloan’s disappearance.  If that’s the case, we’re in for a heap of trouble.  Alex said the design we sent was completely plausible.  The battery could easily be developed from those drawings.  It seems they will go to any lengths to get those plans.”

“
But why did they leave so soon?”  I asked.

“
I don’t know, but guys like this don’t leave until they meet their objective.  Someone sent them to find those plans or Margaret.  I think we need to make a little stop in Memphis,” Galveston told us.

“
What could we possibly find in Memphis?”  I asked.

“
That’s where we’ll find Dr. Sloan.”

-Chapter 27-

Elizabeth and I didn’t press the issue for the rest of the flight, and instead got some well deserved sleep.  Galveston stayed awake and busily scribbled notes.  He would let us know why he thought Dr. Sloan was still in Memphis, in due time.  Jane had finished her movie and I informed her of our diversion when we arrived in New York.  Despite my protest, she would return to San Diego alone, and would check in with Alex the following day at our office.

We
got off the plane at Kennedy International in New York and caught the earliest flight to Memphis.  I decided to accompany Jane to her connecting flight to San Diego, and slowly walked her to the gate.  We found a few empty chairs away from the crowds and began to talk about life and our visit to London.

“
Thanks for letting me go with you two, it was, uh, interesting,” she started.

“
Yeah, I know, about as interesting as watching paint dry,” I retorted.

“
Well, I didn’t have anything else going on.  Just wait until you see my time card.”  We both laughed.  She had made this trip truly special for me, even if I didn’t get to spend as much time with her as I wanted.

“
Take a break when you get back.  I’m sure Alex is out surfing or breaking into a bank’s computer for fun.”

“
Yeah, I’ll check on him,” she paused.  “You know, I wanted to talk to you about what almost happened the other night.”  Her words were cut off by the announcement for her flight.

“
Yeah.  Me too.”  I didn’t know what else to say.  We were able to talk like best friends, albeit with a high amount of sexual tension thrown in.  Our connection was just comfortable and comforting.

“
I better get on before they leave without me.”  She stood up and I followed.  “I had a great time, if you can believe it.  I hope you guys find what you’re looking for.  I’ll see you in a few days?”  She asked hopefully.

“
If all goes well, sooner than that.  I had a great time too.  Have a safe flight.”  I always hated this salutation.  Like a passenger has any bearing on how a flight goes, what, are they able to crawl in the cockpit to help the pilots out?

She reached for me and gave me a long hug.  I smelled her hair and felt her body pressed against mine in a long embrace
.  I considered it to be a piece of heaven.

“
Bye Roger, see you soon.”  She walked away and turned back, giving me a slight wave of her hand.  I garnered the strength to give a wave back.

I watched her get a place in line and she checked her ticket, ready to hand it over to the gate agent, but then she whirled around and headed back for me, a serious look in her eyes.

“Did you forget something?”  I had barely gotten the words out of my mouth when she planted a warm, soft, long kiss on my lips while holding me tightly.  My head swirled and she slowly pulled back and looked into my eyes.

“
I’ll see you soon,” she said softly, and turned back to get on the plane.

I stood smiling, my body energized, but my legs felt like two gigantic pieces of licorice.  I didn’t dare move from that spot and watche
d her disappear down the jetway giving me one last minute wave.  I stood in that position for what seemed like hours, reliving the moment in my mind with a goofy grin plastered on my face.  Suddenly, I felt a slap on my back from Galveston that shocked me back into existence.

“
You got Jane off okay?”  He asked.

“
I’ll say,” I replied, still gawking at the jetway.

“
Huh?”  He said looking confused.  “Hey, we got a flight.  The 4:40 to Memphis.  Hello.  Hellooo,” he said waving a hand in front of my face.  I didn’t dare tell him what had happened.  I didn’t feel like getting a ribbing for the next few days.

“
Yeah, I heard you.  Four-forty to Memphis, right.”  I broke out of my trance and followed him over to Elizabeth who had set up camp in a chair overlooking the tarmac.

“So I know you guys are wondering why we’re going to Memphis,” Galveston said to Elizabeth and me, practically reading my mind.

“
I was certainly wondering why,” I said.

“There was something odd in Dr. Sloan’s message to his daughter, and I don’t think she picked up on it.”  He began to pull out the papers with the messages.  “This is the problem I’m having.  Why would an organization like Black Bear spend the money, the time, or the risk to break into Margaret’s house?  Why go to all the trouble if they’ve kidnapped Dr. Sloan?”

“
Maybe he’s refusing to talk to them,” I interjected.

“
No, they would get him to talk.  We’re not dealing with people that believe in waiting.  These guys play hardball.  They would stop at nothing to get the information.”

Elizabeth pecked away at her laptop.  “What if they have Dr. Sloan and he can’t reproduce the battery without these plans?  It is a complex device.”

“
But it really isn’t that complex.”  Galveston looked at her.  “Alex said he could put it together with the right supplies in under four hours.  I think the facts are this: they don’t have the final plans, they don’t have Dr. Sloan, and I think they knew Margaret had the final design.”

“
Then why Memphis?  How do we know that he didn’t just drive off somewhere when he got off the plane?  Maybe he went home.”  I threw out all the possibilities I knew.

“
I believe he’s in Memphis from the message he sent to Margaret.”  Galveston looked at the message and ran his finger down the page until he found the sentence he wanted.  “This line.  I don’t think it’s a typo.  I think he was trying to tell her where he would be.”  He began to read the line.  “’I can’t wait to see the Memphis Parkland’.  Elizabeth, do a search on the Memphis Parkland.”  Elizabeth began typing in the words on her phone.

“
Memphis parks and recreation, Parkland Hotel, parks in Memphis,” she read aloud.

“
That’s it.  The Parkland Hotel.  Open that one.”

“
Parkland Hotel, downtown Memphis, yes there it is,” Elizabeth announced.

“
Now check what the area code for Memphis is,” Galveston instructed her.  Elizabeth searched for the answer.

“
901,” she replied after finding it.

Galveston
ran his finger over the paper again and began reading aloud.  “’Or you can call me, I think the Memphis area code is 272’.  I think that is where our Dr. Sloan still is.  The Parkland Hotel, room 272, Memphis.” 

I sat dumbfounded. 
I couldn’t believe it could be that easy.

“
I think you have something here, it still seems like a long shot, but plausible,” Elizabeth said.

“
Why don’t we call him then, see if he’s there.  It would save us time,” I asked, thinking the sooner I got back to San Diego and Jane, the better.

“
No way,” Galveston sneered, “that’s all we need; he gets spooked and then we have to find him all over again.  We need to be in that hotel and at his door, that’s the only way.  I don’t know why he would wait it out, but I have a feeling he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.  I don’t know how long he might stay there.”

We had our plan, but
calling it a long shot was an understatement.  Surely Galveston wasn’t this smart.