Dilara took Aiden’s outstretched hand. “A pleasure,” he said. “And I was simply asking Tyler how long he was in town for.” He spoke with a clarity unusual for a deaf person. If Locke hadn’t told her, she wouldn’t have known about his hearing impairment.
Locke threw him a disapproving look. “You’re lucky that you’re indispensable.”
“That I am. And lucky you are that I chose you over Microsoft or Google.” Aiden turned his attention back to Dilara. “So you’re the archaeologist I’ve been hearing so much about. You don’t look much worse for the wear.”
“Well, Tyler has been taking good care of me.” As soon as she said it, she realized how it sounded.
“Has he now? And what can I do for you both?”
“A couple of things,” Locke said a little too quickly. Dilara thought she saw his cheeks redden slightly. “First of all, what connections have you found between the items I told you about?”
Aiden dropped back into his chair. “Ah yes. Your cryptic phrases.” He plucked a Post-It note from the monitor. “Hayden. Project. Oasis. Genesis. And Dawn.”
“Don’t forget Coleman.”
“Right. And somehow these are related to Noah’s Ark?”
“You tell me.”
“Well, I think we’re all in agreement that Hayden refers to Rex Hayden and his unfortunate demise. Never really cared for the guy myself. His movies were shite.”
“Any link to Coleman?”
“My research doesn’t show any connection between Hayden and Coleman. Not that I expected to find a link between a movie star and an engineer. And I couldn’t get into Coleman’s files online. The office is still there, but I’m told it went dark after the top engineers were killed. To get anything from their files, you’d have to access their computers on site.”
“What about the other words?”
“Well, in isolation they were too generic to mean anything. For instance, I thought Genesis was simply a reference to the first book of the Bible. But then I put them in the order you gave them. To me they looked like phrases rather than words, so I tossed them together. Project Oasis doesn’t show up anywhere. Maybe it was something Coleman worked on. But I did find something for Genesis Dawn.”
Locke snapped his fingers as if he just figured it out as well. “The cruise ship.”
“You’re kidding,” Dilara said, perplexed yet again at how all this was tied together. “A cruise ship?”
“Not just any cruise ship,” Aiden said, handing them a picture of an enormous vessel. “The largest cruise ship ever built. Of course, every new cruise ship seems to be the largest ever built. Capacity for 6000 passengers and 2000 crew. Makes the Titanic look like a bathtub toy.”
Locke glanced at the printout and then handed it to Dilara. It looked like a promotional photo from the cruise line’s web site. The Genesis Dawn was shown as if it were passing the Statue of Liberty, which was dwarfed by the immense ship.
“And guess what?” Aiden continued. “She makes her official maiden voyage on Friday.”
Locke looked up sharply. “Where?”
“Debarkation port is Miami.”
Dilara thought back to the wreckage of Hayden’s plane and the gruesome discovery of bones. She exchanged glances with Locke. They both realized what the implications were.
“Oh my God!” she said. “We’ve got to stop it!”
“What do you mean?” Aiden said, confused. “Stop what?”
“She’s right,” Locke said. “The Genesis Dawn might be the next target.”
“For what?”
“For the bioweapon that was used on Rex Hayden’s plane.”
“Why would they kill a shipload of people?”
“That’s a good question.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Dilara said. “We need to get them to stop the sailing.”
“There’s no way we’re going to convince anyone to stop the maiden voyage of a billion-dollar ship without some pretty strong evidence,” Locke said. “The best we could hope for is tighter security, but with 8000 crew and passengers to search, it’ll be hard to stop the attackers unless we know what we’re looking for.”
“What are we waiting for, then?” Dilara said impatiently. “Let’s get over to this Coleman guy’s office and see what we can find.”
Aiden seemed amused by her eagerness, but Dilara was too fired up to care. She was sick of being on the defensive. She wanted to start getting ahead of whoever was behind all this.
“You heard the lady,” Locke said. “We’re on our way there. But one last thing. What have you gotten on Sam Watson?”
“I haven’t had time to work on that yet. All I know is that he worked for a small pharmaceutical firm.”
“Keep on that. We need to know how he found out about all this.”
“Will do.” Aiden handed Locke an object the size of a pack of chewing gum. “That USB drive is the latest from Samsung. Should be big enough to download anything you find on Coleman’s computers. Just out of curiosity, how do you plan to get in?”
“I have an idea.”
“Well, good hunting.” Without another word, Aiden sat back at his computer and began typing again.
As they left, Dilara said, “Aiden’s enunciation is excellent.”
“He went deaf only five years ago. Viral meningitis.”
“Do you have many disabled people on staff?”
“Over a dozen. Finding Aiden was just a case of serendipity, but Miles is well-known in the disabled community. He’s aggressive about recruiting them.”
When Locke and Dilara were in the elevator, he punched the button for the lobby instead of the parking garage.
“We’re not driving?” Dilara said.
“Coleman’s office building is only three blocks from here. There’ll be plenty of people on the street, so we should be safe. They don’t seem to like witnesses. But if you’d like, we can drive instead.”
“Not at all. It’ll feel good to stretch my legs. I’m used to being outside most of the time anyway.”
They exited past a formidable front security area and into a street scene that bustled with life. The afternoon sun was shadowed by the tall buildings, but the air was still warm. They used the first crosswalk to get to the opposite side of the street and headed north.
She still wore the clothes Locke had provided for her, and if they were going to continue to work together until Friday, she was going to need more. She slowed when she passed a store with a good selection of outdoor wear and the collection of shirts and pants in the window was just her style. She pointed at them.
“Do you mind if we go in there on the way back?” she asked Locke. “I usually travel light, but this is ridiculous.” She waved at her current ensemble.
Locke smiled and glanced at the store’s window. “Absolutely. I’m sorry we couldn’t get you more…” Suddenly, his eyes flew open in alarm, and he yelled, “Get down!”
He shoved Dilara roughly to the ground and covered her body. It happened so fast that she was too shocked to resist. Then she heard a series of quick thuds, like muffled drumbeats, and the storefront window blasted inward, showering her and Locke with stray shards.
It only took a moment for her to comprehend what was going on. The muffled thuds were silenced gunshots. Someone across the street was shooting at them.
TWENTY-ONE
Olsen had been surprised to see Locke and Kenner emerge from the Gordian building’s front door. They crossed at the light and began to walk along the opposite side of the street. He quickly reassessed the situation and realized that this was an even better opportunity to take them out. Fifth Avenue, a one-way street heading south,
