Missing: The Body of Evidence Read online

  His cheeks reddened and his eye twitched.

  ‘And how, exactly, do you account for CIA providing the Coroner’s office with records of the professor’s prints and details?’

  ‘You mean your henchmen. You had them switch the record… that’s why. But what you couldn’t do was to let go of your past.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Your degree certificates that were in the apartment, that’s what I mean. They’re now hanging in your office. Then there’s the phone pad on your desk that you removed from your apartment. I’m sure when they check the numbers of the one on your office desk they’ll find they were all used by the professor.’

  ‘As regards the phone pad, he worked here… remember. And what’s to say we didn’t put the certificates on my office wall in tribute to the late professor?’

  ‘Nothing, but then there’s the description of you from a witness that puts you at the apartment, unless Blake was your twin.’

  He began to laugh.

  ‘It really is all circumstantial. What you’re missing is the body of evidence.’

  ‘It’s all there in the circumstantial evidence. Blake helped David to escape to his father's apartment. And, from what you have told me, the government doesn’t appreciate the work you do here. That’s assuming they even know what it is you do. Unless…’

  ‘Unless what?’

  ‘Come on, do I have to spell it out. There’s only you and me that can hear the truth of what happened. The technician is busy with the monitoring machine.’

  He stroked his chin, leaned forward in his chair and glanced over at the technician

  ‘You’re right, and I’m not letting you out of here, anyway. I can shoot you and put the gun back in Carter’s hand. Then I can do what I intended to do and to disappear with a new identity, so I may as well tell you… Yes, I killed Blake.’

  His eyes glazed over. Her eyes darted around the room, as much as she wanted to hear the why and wherefore, she needed to disarm him and escape from the room.

  ‘How and why?’

  ‘Like you said, Blake spirited David away from here to his dad’s apartment after we had a blazing argument. We’re pretty autonomous here. We have our own funding from drug royalties and the government only knows what we want them to know. Blake wasn’t happy with some of the missions we undertook without executive clearance and he was going to go to Langley headquarters to debrief them.’

  Nancy’s mind recalled searching the net for information on spontaneous combustion. I wonder? Iran and the death of the nuclear scientists from the article in the browser search.

  He continued. ‘What Blake didn’t know was that Kelly used David’s situation to extract more money and told me what was happening. I invited Blake to my apartment to discuss things rationally, but things got out of hand and I strangled him. Then you came along and screwed things up.’

  ‘So really, when you say you left all the details to security, like the surveillance of me and my apartment, the attempt to frame me for taking gang money, the fire at the cabin and the highway incident, not forgetting them placing my gun in Kelly’s hand, they were doing it on your orders?’

  ‘Well, yes if you put it like that.’

  The technician called out. ‘Professor, I’ve lost them.’

  Relieved as she was to know the truth and prove her hunches right, she worried how she would get out of there alive to tell the story. The professor strode over to the technician.

  ‘What do you mean you’ve lost them?’

  ‘Well, to be honest, they haven’t left the grounds, but the signal strength is weakening. If they don’t get back to their bodies soon, they’ll not make it back at all. The strange thing is that around fifteen minutes ago I detected three alternatives in the grounds.’

  The professor put the gun down on a table and studied an array of monitors.

  Nancy eased herself off the chair and tried to make no sound. Like a tiger stalking its prey, she slowly moved toward the professor, her eyes darting from him and then to the gun. A cold blast struck her, as if a ghost had walked through her body.

  ‘Turn the power up to factor seven,’ the professor said.

  ‘It’s dangerous, we could destroy him.’

  ‘Just do it.’

  Nancy stopped in her tracks to a foul odour of burning plastic. A fizzing sound above her caught her attention and she looked upward. Flames ran down wires from the dome above. Her eye-line followed the flames to the helmet on Simon’s head. His body jerked and his eyes opened wide. What looked like steam rose from the helmet. His face contorted and appeared to melt in a disfigured expression of pain. The clothing he was wearing smoked and then burst into flame. A sudden blue flash, and his body incinerated before her eyes. Her jaw dropped and she screamed.

  The professor turned and threw her a look before his stare settled on the gun. This time two inches wouldn’t do it, she was at least six-feet away. Out in the open with nowhere to hide, she froze as if she were an actress caught in the footlights on stage, her lines forgotten. She knew Blondie had put a bullet it the chamber and it had her name on it. He picked up the gun and aimed it. Her eyes focused on his trigger finger and she mentally prepared to dive.

  ‘Leave her alone, she’s my friend,’ rang between her ears.

  A white-tennis-sized ball flashed into her vision from behind her and stopped short of the professor. It seemed to dance around before his eyes as if holding him in a trance like a preying Cobra. He shrieked.

  ‘No, David. No.’

  The professor’s eyes bulged with fear. In an instant, the sphere struck his face and was absorbed into his head. He dropped the gun. First, the skin and hair on his head frosted. Then, as if he had liquid nitrogen injected into his heart, spreading the substance through his veins, his entire body froze over like an ice statue. The skin cracked on his face and crumbled, his entire body collapsing like a skyscraper at demolition, until all that remained was a pile of dust on the floor.

  Her jaw dropped in readiness for a scream, but the neurons in her brain scrambled, sending a message that missed her vocal chords and landed in her stomach. She felt as though someone had kicked her in the gut and she doubled over. The foul odour from Simon’s burning flesh added to her stomach pains and she wanted to throw up. She heard David’s voice in her mind.

  ‘Please, open the connecting door to my room, I have to get back to my body or I’ll die.’

  Nancy grabbed the gun from the floor and aimed it at the technician.

  ‘Open the door to the next room… now.’

  A glance in the direction of the smouldering chair, and all that was left of the body was Simon’s two legs. The technician scurried to the connecting door, tapped in the code and spun the wheel. Nancy ordered the technician into the room. Haunted by the visions she had witnessed, she still wanted to throw up the contents of her stomach.

  ‘Do whatever you have to do to get David back into his body.’

  She left the technician to his orders, walked over to David’s lifeless body and took hold of his hand. His head jolted as if his body had received an electric shock. His hand gripped her fingers. David sucked in a sharp intake of breath. She hoped for a smile, but his head slumped forward and his grip of her hand went limp.

  ‘Excuse me,’ said the technician and removed the helmet. He took hold of David’s wrist. ‘His pulse is weak, but he’s alive.’

  Nancy snapped her head to the direction of the door making a loud hiss. Slowly it drew open and she caught a glimpse of the cart woman. Figures dressed in black clothing and ski masks brushed her aside, their automatic weapons at the ready, Nancy dropped her gun. A loud explosion and flash of light disorientated her and she fell to the ground. Voices barked orders.

  ‘On the ground, everyone.’

  ‘Detective Roberts, I’m police. We need a medic for the boy in the chair.’

  Hands grabbed at her wrists ignoring her introduction and plea for help. Someone forced her hands behin
d her back and she felt plastic cuffs tighten. Picked up bodily, the next thing she could remember was eating grass face down outside the building. The sound of truck engines roaring, and helicopter engines winding down, together with men barking orders was deafening. Nancy glanced either side. The whole area resembled a disembarkation rendezvous for an army exercise. Children were being ushered onto school buses. Some Astral personnel were lying face down on the ground. Others formed a line, with those at the front climbing into the back of trucks, shepherded by heavily armed guards.

  ‘Nancy?’

  It was the voice of Kyle. He was lying face down, his hands trussed behind his back.

  ‘Kyle? Of all the places in the world and they have to put you next to me.’

  ‘Play it again, Sam.’ He curled his lips in a smile.

  ‘How the hell did you know I was here?’

  ‘The watch I gave you. You destroyed the GPS bug in the Dictaphone Bill gave you.’

  Nancy rolled her eyes. Boys and their toys.

  ‘Listen, Kyle, I’m sorry for all the crap I’ve given you. I…’

  ‘Don’t worry, save the apologies for later over a glass of wine.’

  ‘That’s her.’ It was her dad’s voice.

  Two men helped her to her feet and released the cuffs.

  Nancy let out a giggle at the sight of Dad and the boys. They were stripped down to their boxers. Her giggles were soon stifled when she noticed her dad’s arm bandaged.

  ‘Are you hurt?’

  ‘Just a flesh wound. A goon in the tunnel pulled a Saturday-night special on me.’

  Blondie? ‘Where is he?’

  ‘In a body bag.’ Nancy gulped. Dad pointed to two men in suits who stood next to him. ‘Agent Smyth, FBI and Agent Radowski, Homeland Security.’

  Introductions over, she had pressing things on her mind.

  ‘David, the boy in the room with me, he…’

  ‘Don’t worry. He’s on his way to the hospital in an air ambulance. It looks as though you need a medic,’ Radowski said.

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Sorry about stripping your dad and his friends, but we had to make sure they didn’t get confused with our guys and for them to slip away, because we need them for debrief,’ Smyth said. ‘We’re going to need to debrief you too. Not everyone is accounted for, we have one body missing.’

  Nancy reached inside her pocket and removed her handkerchief with the coffee cup.

  ‘Take this, check it for DNA and pass your results on to CSI. I think the results will clear up your body count, especially when you take a look at this recording and add the two together.’

  Nancy removed Dad’s pen from her top pocket and handed it over.

  The unmistakable voice of Logan called out.

  ‘For God’s sake, when you lot have finished exchanging pleasantries how about releasing us. Nancy, tell them who we are. God, damn it.’

  Nancy moved up close to Smyth and whispered.

  ‘You can release Bill and Kyle, but let Logan stew a while.’

  They released Kyle first and he hurried over to Nancy. People were talking around her, but it was as if their voices were reverberating with a metallic sound. Everything around her started to spin and her legs weakened.

  Above the din she, heard Kyle’s voice cry out.

  ‘Medic…’

  Missing: The Body of Evidence.

  Chapter 81

  Epilogue.

  Two weeks later; LA hospital recovery room.

  In her private room, Nancy sat up in bed waiting for her visitor. Her body trembled as the clock on the wall hit seven p.m. Her fingers played with the white envelope in her hands. She had rehearsed for this meeting ever since the phone call she had made earlier in the day after a visit from Tracy, her new friend. Somehow, she didn’t feel prepared.

  A tap on the door and in walked Bill. He carried a huge bunch of flowers and a smile to match. He set the flowers in a vase on the bedside table

  ‘How’s the patient?’

  ‘The surgeon says I’m doing fine. Thanks for the flowers.’

  ‘No problem. What does it feel like to be reinstated at work with full honours and no blemishes?’

  ‘Doesn’t make any difference for now, I’m still on sick leave. And, guess what? Homeland Security has offered me work this morning if I fully recover.’

  ‘What will you do?’

  ‘To be honest, I’m not thinking about it, but it is an option. I’m just taking one day at a time.’

  ‘Sensible. Logan says the recording Homeland Security passed on to the department, of events at Astral, was heavily edited.’

  ‘It doesn’t surprise me. But, to be honest, I can’t remember everything that happened after having surgery for the aneurism in my brain. I’m just lucky Homeland Security arranged for a surgeon to be flown here, because there wasn’t one available. The surgeon says my memory may be messed up. I sure keep thinking weird things happened at Astral, but as the surgeon says, the damage may have been causing hallucinations and mood swings long before the surgery. I’m just pleased they left enough of the professor’s confession on the recording to vindicate me.’

  ‘How’s it going with Kyle?’

  ‘One day at a time like everything else. To be honest though, I’ve stared my future in the face on that score, and I live in hope. We’ve talked, and he still wants me to move in with him, but we’ve settled for a compromise. I’ll stay at his mother’s to recover when I'm released from here, and he’ll stay at his apartment. That way I get introduced as his mom’s friend to his daughter and we’ll take it from there.’

  The small talk out of the way, an uncomfortable silence descended. Bill was first to break.

  ‘Well, out with it. I’ve only stayed away because of your dad. You made it sound urgent that you wanted to see me. Not that I’m not pleased you phoned. Hell, I’ve been phoning every day to see how you are, and I think Kyle is getting tired of me asking him to repeat everything you’ve said.’

  Nancy felt heat flush her cheeks and fiddled some more with the envelope.

  ‘Look, Bill. I feel I owe you this. I just want you to listen. When I stayed at Dad’s apartment, I found some things in his papers and a sealed envelope addressed to me. It was only for me to see if he died. At first I left the letter unopened, but later I sneaked back into his room and opened it.’

  Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him fidgeting on his chair and he closed his eyes.

  ‘I know what the feud is between you two and it needs to be out in the open.’ His eyes popped wide open and he covered his mouth with his hands. ‘Bill, I love you as a dear friend, but… but you’re not my dad.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘Don’t say anything. You need to read this.’

  He took the envelope and removed the contents.

  ‘It’s the DNA results after tests on my dad’s hair, some of my mom’s hair and a swab from me.’

  Tears rolled from his eyes and poured down his cheeks, but he made no sound as he studied the results. Nancy passed him a tissue.

  ‘I… I’m sorry Nancy, but everything was done out of friendship for your mom and your dad. It all turned sour after that when your dad was convinced I was having an affair with your mom and I wasn’t. You have to remember there were no test tube babies in those days. Your mom and your dad were devastated when he discovered they couldn’t have children and you know… well, we sort of made an arrangement.’

  ‘Well, obviously there was a slim chance he could have children and his hospital tests were wrong, because it worked. It all explains why he’s treated me the way he has over the years. The letter apologizes, but I need to hear it from his lips.’

  ‘Have you told him?’

  ‘No, I don’t know how. I only found out this morning when Tracy brought the results.’

  He shuffled on his chair and wiped the tears from his eyes.

  ‘I know how. Your dad and I started all this and we need to finish it
. I’ll give him the results. You’ve suffered enough.’

  ‘No, you can’t.’

  ‘I can and I will. Don’t forget, I’ve suffered too.’

  ‘I can imagine. Does Logan know about all this?’

  ‘Yeah. That’s why he’s hard on you at times, but only for your benefit. It’s also why he’s covered for you while we tried to get to the bottom of what was happening.’

  He stuffed the envelope in his jacket pocket and reached out to give her a hug. She whispered in his ear.

  ‘Were you the one who fired off a warning shot at those punks who were going to mug me.’

  He kissed her cheek and laughed.

  ‘Yeah, but don’t tell the wife. I’d have done it whether you were my daughter or not. You know, I wish you had been my daughter.’

  His eyes glazed and his lips expressed a faint smile, but couldn’t hide his inner grief. He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

  ‘I know. Sorry. How about we settle for favourite niece and I can call you, Uncle Bill.’

  ‘Sounds good to me. Wait, I need to freshen up in the bathroom.’ Tears streamed from his eyes again and he looked away. ‘Sorry about the tears. This is all something of a shock.’

  He turned and left the room. Nancy’s inner strength deserted her and she sobbed. Holding her head in her hands, a lifetime of pain flashed through her mind.

  ‘Oh, Mom, what a mess. All those years of misery. You must have suffered with me.’

  She took a tissue and dried the tears, taking slow even breaths to gain composure. Bill walked back into the room.

  ‘Hey, don’t cry. We all have a new beginning, your dad included, once the old fart’s eaten humble pie. It will all be fine. Come on, smile. Changing the subject, did you know Astral has closed down and they’ve emptied and boarded up the building?’

  ‘No, I’ve not heard. I’ve also not heard about anything that happened with David, either, other than the agent from Homeland Security said he’d be well looked after. I’m guessing you had to sign the secrecy papers like me.’

  ‘Yeah, I signed. Well, at least they’re out of business. Oh, here, that reminds me, I forgot, I’ve brought you today’s newspaper.’