“What is Hyland’s research about?” Tyler said. “Anything to do with Roswell?”
Jess shook her head. “He works on a project called CAPEK, or Computer-Automated Payload Extension Kit. It’s autonomous vehicle research funded by the trucking industry.”
Tyler chuckled. “They named their robotic truck after Karel Capek.”
“Who’s that?” Fay said.
“He’s a Czech writer who coined the word ‘robot’ in a play called
Jess took the wood engraving. “Why are the men who are willing to kill for Nana’s artifact interested in a robotic truck in the middle of Australia?”
“I guess we’ll have to ask the researchers,” Tyler said. “And I think we should do it in person. We might be able to track down the man who was with Blaine.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. Because we’re going with you. There’s a flight to Sydney that leaves Queenstown in two hours. Then we can catch a connection to Alice Springs.”
Before Tyler could protest, Grant returned with a grim expression.
“What’s the matter?” Tyler asked.
“It’s Billy Raymond, the guy who shot Fay’s Roswell video,” Grant said.
“What about him?”
“Three days ago he was killed.”
PINE GAP
FIFTEEN
Starbucks hadn’t yet opened a franchise in Alice Springs, so as he steered the rented Jeep out of the city, Tyler drank a cup of truck-stop coffee strong enough to be used as an industrial solvent. He supposed that made sense, given the vast stretches of outback drivers would have to cross to get anywhere else.
Alice Springs was the largest town for eight hundred miles, and in the short time he’d been there, Tyler had sensed an independent nature that was likely characteristic of the 27,000 inhabitants. Despite its geographic isolation, the town was no stranger to strangers. Visiting ranchers, miners, explorers, and truckers making the long haul between Adelaide to the south and Darwin to the north were the lifeblood of the city.
Still, the group he was with surely stood out. Grant was next to him, with Jess and Fay in the back. The four of them together wouldn’t go unnoticed for long, which was why they’d kept a low profile coming into town.
Tyler involuntarily glanced in the mirror at Jess and she caught him looking. They’d had no time alone to talk during the trip, and maybe that was for the best. He was still attracted to her, still felt the pull between them, but trying to start something up again after all this time, under these circumstances, was a ridiculous thought. In any case he didn’t get the sense that she wanted anything from him except help in solving their mystery. He would approach this job as a professional, nothing more.
Right. If that were true, why couldn’t he stop looking in the mirror?
To distract himself, Tyler focused on the upcoming meeting with Jeremy Hyland at the CAPEK facility. With no inkling to how CAPEK might be connected, they thought it safer to use Tyler’s status as chief engineer at Gordian to arrange a nine a.m. meeting with the student, without mentioning his tip to the New Zealand police.
Because the flight from the US to New Zealand was so long, Tyler hadn’t used one of Gordian’s Gulfstream private jets for the trip, which meant they’d had to fly commercial to Alice Springs. With the connection, the flight from Queenstown had taken seven hours, and during that time they’d rehashed the events of the previous day and the possible meaning of Fay’s artifact with no further insight.
The only new information they’d gleaned during the stopover in Sydney was that Billy Raymond had been struck by a pickup in a Phoenix shopping mall parking lot. There were no witnesses to the hit-and-run. The pickup, stolen earlier that day, was eventually found, but the police had no further leads. They believed the culprit was a car thief or joyriding teenager who got scared and fled the scene.
Nobody in Tyler’s group, however, thought Raymond’s death was coincidental. For some reason, Blaine, who’d traveled all the way to New Zealand to steal a seemingly worthless artifact, kill Fay Turia, and burn down her house to cover the evidence, had been at a high-tech experimental research facility in the middle of Australia less than a week before. And his likeliest connection to Fay was Billy Raymond, now lying in an Arizona grave.
Though Tyler didn’t believe in alien visitors to Earth, he did think Fay’s relic had some significance that they hadn’t yet divined. They were obviously missing crucial information that would shed light on why the wood engraving was so important, and they were all hoping Jeremy Hyland could point them in the right direction.
“I’m coming in with you to see Hyland,” Fay said.
A night’s sleep in the local motel obviously hadn’t changed her mind.
“Fay,” Tyler said, “we don’t know how CAPEK figures into this.”
“Blaine’s partners could be watching the place,” Grant said.
“I’d feel better if you stayed in the car until we check them out. In fact, I’d rather you stayed back at the hotel.”
“I didn’t come three thousand miles to wait in the car like a little girl. If this Hyland kid knows something, I want to be there.”
Tyler looked in the rearview mirror at Jess. “Your call. Blaine’s friends might still be around.”
“If that’s the case, then they probably saw
Tyler shook his head. “All right.”
The trip from Alice Springs to the project headquarters north of the city took fifteen minutes. They turned onto a dusty road labeled with a small sign saying, “Charles Darwin University — Transportation Research Center”.
Though CDU had an extension in Alice Springs, the newly created research facility was located outside of town so that its vehicles could access the Northern Territory highways more easily during road testing. A half-mile down the road, Tyler saw the low-slung building rising from the scrubby desert. Because it was a Sunday, only a few cars were parked in the lot.
Tyler was about to park in front of the entrance when he noticed that a garage door was open on the side of the building. He wheeled the Jeep around and stopped next to it. He could see a man hunched over the hood of a car.
The four of them got out. The clear blue sky was cloudless all the way to the low mountain ridges to the south. The winter air was cool but pleasant, requiring nothing heavier than a windbreaker. Grant would have been sweltering in the parka, which meant Tyler was spared another day with Sergeant Traffic Cone.
The man inside the garage heard the doors slam and looked up. He couldn’t have been older than twenty and had grease stains on his sunburned cheeks. Tyler recognized him as Jeremy Hyland from the bios and photos posted on the CAPEK project’s website.
“You Dr. Locke?” Hyland said with a heavy Australian accent.
“I am,” he said and introduced the others, eliciting a round of
“That’s right. I’d shake your hand, but I’m not very presentable at the moment.”
“Thanks for taking the time to meet with us.”
“No worries. Any chance to meet the chief engineer from Gordian.”
“You’ve heard of his company?” Jess asked.
“Heard of them? Any engineer would give their right arm to work there. Say, would you put in a good word for me at the Sydney office?”
