She smiled, went back to her paperwork. ‘You’ll see when we get there.’
‘Fine, Carrie. Looking forward to it.’
She checked the time. It was 1:25 a.m. Just over a half-hour to takeoff.
Adrianna unlocked the door of her hotel room, stepped inside, and froze.
Brian Doyle was sitting in a chair, arms folded across his chest.
‘Hey,’ he said
‘Hey yourself,’ she said. ‘How did you get in?’
‘Through the door.’
‘Don’t be funny, Brian.’
‘Wasn’t,’ he said. ‘It’s amazing what you can do with an NYPD detective’s shield, a Federal ID, and a convincing story.’
‘What kind of story?’
‘That you were my fiancee. And that I wanted to surprise you.’
Adrianna couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘That’s a hell of a story.’
‘Sure is,’ he said, his face expressionless. ‘And speaking of stories, Adrianna, why don’t you tell me yours?’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Talk to me about Cincinnati. Why your school records are missing. Why your neighbors were paid off to help spread a cover story about you. And how your aunt was murdered.’
The phone call from the Homeland Security Office in Washington State to have the Memphis Airport shut down and to prevent any entry from outside traffic was routed to a communications office at the main Homeland Security Office in Washington DC. Due to the nature and classification of the phone call, it had to be approved by the overnight communications supervisor before being sent along to Memphis. The overnight communications supervisor had been on the job for three days. Uncertain of her authority for shutting down the Memphis Airport, she started making phone calls to numbers on her contact sheet, each phone call taking approximately five minutes.
Brian could tell that he had scored by the way Adrianna’s eyes seemed to flinch. But she was good, the way she recovered so quickly. ‘I don’t understand what you mean.’
‘I mean this,’ he said. And I’m probably violating a half-dozen regulations by telling you this, but it has to be said. One of my roles within the Tiger Team was being a rat, Adrianna. Someone who investigates the squad. A duty assigned to me by the Director. “Who will guard the guardians?” was his motto for me, and my job was to look at the background of the members. I checked out Victor and I checked out Darren, and except for a few odds and ends they were clean. But not you, Adrianna. There are questions. Questions that bugged me so much I came back tonight to figure it out. Like Mamma Garrity. Your neighbor. Who claims she was paid a hundred dollars a month by you, to pass on a cover story to those doing background checks when you applied to the CIA. Care to explain that story, Adrianna?’
Adrianna’s expression seemed shaky. She rubbed at her eyes with both hands and said, ‘I’m sorry…this is coming at me so fast… I… I have to go to the bathroom, Brian. Honest. Please wait for me. I’ll… I’ll tell you everything when I get out.’
And she turned her back to him, and went into the room’s bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Brian stood up, waited.
Once the permissions had been granted and accepted, the phone call from the Homeland Security Office in Virginia went out to the night-shift manager at the Memphis Airport. At the time the phone call was made, the night-shift manager was off on the flight line, overseeing an accident investigation that had begun an hour earlier when a United Airlines flight had clipped the top of a catering truck. He had left strict instructions with his administrative staff that he was not to be disturbed, ‘even if the goddamn governor calls’.
The administrative aide who took the phone call wasn’t sure if an urgent message from Homeland Security was as important as the governor’s office, but he didn’t want to face the wrath of the manager twice in one shift.
So the call was written up and placed on the manager’s desk.
More minutes slipped away.
Adrianna looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her stomach felt as if it was filled with liquid cement. Her legs were shaking. She checked her watch. Not much time, but Brian… he could not be allowed to ask her any more questions, could not be allowed to have any chance to make any phone calls or do anything.
She ran the faucet, splashed some cold water on her face, and then flushed the toilet.
Then she went to the door.
Carrie Floyd was now in the cockpit, doing a pre-flight check. So far, so good. Weather was wonderful, CAVU -ceiling and visibility unlimited — and she looked forward to a quick trip to Boston. Sean was at her side, saying, ‘We’re 107 today…AirBox 107. Got it?’
‘Gotten.’
A touch from his hand to hers. She didn’t look up. ‘Later, tiger. Later.’
‘Sure, chief, whatever you say.’
‘Good.’
Brian waited for Adrianna, stood up and looked around the room. Some of her favorite books seemed to be there. He tilted his head, checked out the titles.
What was it?
He looked at the framed photo of Adrianna and her aunt. A cute photo, the two of them wearing matching outfits. He picked up the frame, looked closer at the photo. Nice. But the death of her aunt…
Something was pressing against his finger.
He tilted the photo, saw something poking out between the thick frame and the matte on the back. The edge of a piece of paper. He tugged at it with his fingernail, heard the bathroom door start to open.
Adrianna went through the open bathroom door, saw Brian looking at the photo frame. She strode to her overnight bag where it lay on the floor.
The piece of paper was photo paper. It slid out and now Brian held it in his hand. There was movement as Adrianna came out of the bathroom. He didn’t look at her. He looked at the photo. It showed a woman and a young girl, sitting in a formal pose on a couch, with a man behind them. The girl… a much younger Adrianna Scott. Standing behind the couch was a man, and the man was wearing a uniform, a uniform…
Brian recognized the uniform, recognized the flag patch on the shoulder.
Iraq.
The man was an Iraqi officer of some sort.
Adrianna was sitting in front of him.
Her father?
Supposedly dead in a car accident with her mother.
A young Adrianna, sitting with her Iraqi parents…
Her dead Iraqi parents.
And then it came to him.
The missing book.
