‘Too many of us on the project will be a dead giveaway.’
‘They’re going to work the periphery and the Secret Service will have a problem with you being too active.’
‘We’ll check out the biologists this morning. Give the Vegas agents my cell number. There’s a golf course nearby there with a bar and a place to eat. We can use that as a spot to meet if there’s a reason or a need. What about Casey or Colin Greiston?’
‘No leads on Casey but he left some writings that suggest he would not let himself be taken prisoner. You can interpret that however you want. Greiston is cleared at some high levels and we’re being asked to prove our interest in him, but I didn’t want to do anything until I talked with you. Basically, he’ll get told we want to interview him. Do you want him to get advance notice?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Two more things about the biologists, first thing is you need a four-wheel drive to get to their camp. The second thing is they’re due to leave this morning ahead of the road closure today. Everything gets shutdown for the President’s visit. He’s flying into Las Vegas and they’ll helicopter him to an airport in Jean and drive from there. Do you know where Jean is?’
‘Yeah, we’re close to it right now. It’s just off the highway. We went by there last night.’
Raveneau was in his new Hawaiian shirt and the one light jacket he took to Hawaii, but it was much colder here. La Rosa wore a T-shirt she bought at Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino. In their rental they looked like tourists, holding paper cups of coffee against the cold as they drove toward the Ivanpah dry lake bed and the first sunlight touching high on the gray desert mountains ahead. When they left the highway they could already see the construction site. A few minutes later they knocked on the door of a construction trailer with lights on inside.
The superintendent was friendly and excited about the Presidential visit. Because of his earlier conversation with Coe, he knew who they were. He was hazy on why they were here but printed them a map, sketched some additional dirt roads, and answered all the questions he could about the biologists and where the President would tour.
Raveneau showed him the enhanced photo of Greiston made from the video.
‘Have you seen anyone who looks at all like this?’
‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘We’ll show it to the biologists. They’ve been out there awhile. Maybe they’ve seen somebody. How do you communicate with them?’
‘Radio when they are at their camp on the mountain. Otherwise cell phones work fine.’
The superintendent tried to reach them now by radio but didn’t have any luck before leaving for what he said was a quick meeting at the tower. Work was underway at the base of the four hundred fifty foot tower. When the three sites of the project were finished mirrors would focus sunlight on the tower and superheat water to drive a turbine to produce electricity.
Raveneau and la Rosa went back to their car and were glad to get the heater on. The morning was cold and windy. Coe called after they drove the roads on the superintendent’s map.
‘We’re getting some feedback from the air,’ Coe said. ‘We’ve got a vehicle coming off the mountain and moving your way. That’s probably the two biologists trying to get out of there before the President arrives. Can you see them? They started driving a few minutes ago and they’re on the southeastern face. That’s the road I told you about that runs through the project and then on over a mountain to Ivanpah.’
‘We’re on the road right now.’
It took Raveneau several minutes then he caught a reflection in sunlight. But there was no need to hold the binoculars and track them all the way down. There was only this road. He lowered the binoculars, looked at the gray-green of the mountain and knew they were most likely just what they claimed to be. That got reinforced even more as they made several stops when they came off the mountain and started down the sloping plain.
‘Stopping to look at tortoise burrows,’ Coe said, and they had him on speaker phone now. Raveneau’s phone sat up on the dash, its volume turned up. ‘That’s what they do. It’s why they’re there. The superintendent told me they usually check in with him on their way out though sometimes they just phone and let him know they’re gone. Basically, if his truck is there they stop and let him know they’re leaving.’
‘OK, got it, and we’ll see them as they come out.’
Raveneau was less sure of his theory this morning and it agitated him. The solar thermal plant had three sites and none were very far along yet, so the President’s visit would be largely symbolic. Considering how far along the project wasn’t, it was probably a short visit.
‘Is that the tortoise fencing?’ la Rosa asked, and pointed at silver mesh attached to the fencing alongside the road and no more than knee high.
‘Looks like it.’
Raveneau gauged the distance to the mountains. If the biologists weren’t making stops they’d be out by now. He turned back toward the dry lakebed and highway as la Rosa said, ‘They must be moving the visit up.’
Three black Suburbans were just arriving. They drove toward the superintendent’s office and la Rosa was guessing they were Secret Service vehicles. Raveneau picked up his phone to check the time before calling Coe.
‘Have you heard anything about the visit getting moved up? I’m asking because it looks like the Secret Service has arrived.’
‘No one has said anything to me. I’ll make a call and let you know.’
‘Thanks. How clearly are the Air Force guys seeing the biologists?’
‘They told me the one getting out checking the burrows needs a shave. Is that clear enough?’
‘Plenty.’
Another ten minutes went past and Raveneau’s mind was racing. The biologists still weren’t in view but were moving faster and should drive past soon. As they waited la Rosa said, ‘When they go past maybe we should follow and if they leave the project we can head to Vegas and catch a flight home from there.’
‘Here they come.’
Raveneau saw sunglasses and hats and a tinted windshield that made it hard to read features. He read Heritage Wildlife Institute on the driver’s door. There was similar white lettering on the back. They drove straight through. They didn’t slow. They didn’t stop at any burrows or ostensible burrows anywhere on the project site, nor did they stop at the superintendent’s office even though his pickup was there.
Maybe they saw the big black Suburbans and decided to get out while there was still time. Could be they were picturing getting breakfast somewhere with a clean table and a waitress rather than their campsite.
Raveneau turned to la Rosa. ‘Let’s get the superintendent to call these biologists. Their cell phones will work now.’
La Rosa didn’t follow him up the metal stairs of the construction trailer and Raveneau was inside when four helicopters in a line veered from the mountain and swept overhead. He saw their shadows sweep across the road. The biologists didn’t answer their cell phones. The superintendent tried and so did Raveneau as he looked out the window at the helicopters. Could be the White House decided to do the tour by air, but the superintendent said no, the President was still coming. The Secret Service had confirmed that a few minutes ago.
Raveneau nodded, then asked, ‘Can I borrow your truck?’
‘Why?’
‘I need to go up to the biologists’ camp.’
‘It’s a company truck, I’m not supposed to ever loan it out.’
‘Bend the rules, these are special circumstances and I don’t have a four-wheel drive. It won’t take fifteen minutes to get there and I can’t get in an accident. There’s no one to run into.’
‘They already left.’
‘Yeah, we saw the Heritage Wildlife vehicle go by.’
‘Then why go up there?’
‘I’ll get the truck back to you in forty minutes.’
Raveneau held his hand out and the superintendent reluctantly handed him the keys.
