Shades of Grey: Book Two of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles

by Phelps, J. C.

  I hadn’t looked at the time when I started, but I guessed more than an hour had passed while I was working on this angle. Nothing turned up so I switched to the bus and train terminals. Again, nothing. Maybe this wasn’t the right angle. I knew I was going to lose again but to kill the time until White showed up I decided to check the cruise line manifests. I was shocked to find my search for Ed Grimes brought back a result.

  Next I got the dates and ports of call for the cruise. It had been a Mediterranean cruise in which Ed had to fly to Venice to board the ship. How had I missed that? Instantly it hit me, I didn’t check for private planes. That must be how he got there. From the information I was gathering, the kid had literally disappeared into the Mediterranean Sea. His last known whereabouts were on the ship. According to their records Ed had boarded the ship but had never departed. I knew how easy it was to take someone from a ship though, so he could have left by his own will or against it without anyone the wiser. Until they found a body, I wouldn’t be satisfied that he fell overboard.

  If I was lucky, I might be able to figure this all out before White came to help me work out a plan. I wasn’t quite sure where to go next with the cruise line so I decided to find out how the ticket was paid for. If I had missed that too, I’d be really mad at myself. It was paid for with cash along with three other tickets. Out of the four tickets three of them were used and the other was cashed in. Two of the names, other than Ed Grimes, looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place where I’d seen them before. The third wasn’t at all familiar and looked foreign. I decided to print the entire manifest for that cruise.

  The unfamiliar name was Hincal Basar. I discovered he did not board the ship until Kusadasi, Turkey and he was a Turkish national. That, however, was all I was going to learn from the cruise line. I would have loved to have gotten into the government computer but I knew I had been using the wrong password and I wasn’t sure I wanted to try to figure out the true password from my apartment, so I decided to use our resources at C.I.C.

  I could have pulled it all up from my apartment, but I was getting stir crazy so I thought I’d stretch my legs before I either went to C.I.C. or came back here to work. I checked the time before I left my apartment and was surprised to find it was early afternoon. White hadn’t called or showed up yet either. I found myself seriously wondering what he was doing.

  I noticed Phil was still at his post.

  “Have you had lunch?” I asked him.

  “No, Ma’am.”

  “You hungry?”

  He had been standing at attention, looking straight ahead until I asked this.

  “Did you cook?”

  “No, but I’m hungry and I have to get out of there for a while. I need some exercise.”

  He looked straight ahead again and said, “We can not leave the premises.”

  “Well, if we can’t leave then I suppose we could order something in. I just need to get some air or something first.”

  “I’m not allowed to let you leave the building.”

  I sighed. I couldn’t take this much longer. I should have stayed at the cabin. At least there I could have gone outside.

  I headed for the stairs and he cut me off.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going for a walk. You’re welcome to join me.” I gave him a joyless smile.

  “The stairs aren’t a wise choice, Ma’am.”

  “I don’t care.” I tried to get past him but he held his ground. I took a deep breath. I had decided to try to like Phil because he was just following his orders but I was beginning to get angry.

  “I can’t let you put yourself in jeopardy, Ma’am,” he explained.

  “Fine.” I walked to the elevator and pressed the button. It arrived almost immediately and I stepped in with Phil right behind me. Just as I had hoped he took a stance behind me to allow me to push the floor I wanted. I pressed the button for the lobby and waited until the door was almost shut before I side stepped out. Phil tried to stop the door from completely closing but was unsuccessful. I felt an instant surge of glee immediately followed by remorse. I had planned on running for the stairs but I stood and waited for the elevator to come back to me. I didn’t stand there long. He must have pushed my floor as soon as the doors opened into the lobby.

  I was prepared to apologize as soon as he stepped from the elevator but it wasn’t Phil. It was another of our new guards so I was shocked when he rushed me as the door opened. Of course I countered and had him on the floor as fast as he could get out of the elevator. I held him down and took his radio away from him.

  “Phil?” I said into the radio a little out of breath.

  “Ms. Grey?” He answered.

  “Get up here right now and take care of your goon,” I ordered.

  “Where are you?” He was equally out of breath and actually sounded angry.

  “I’m outside my apartment in front of the elevator.”

  “What?” He asked, confused.

  “Just get back up here.”

  It didn’t take him long to get back on the elevator and find his way back to my floor. I was a little skittish before I saw it was Phil on the elevator because I was in a compromising position and wouldn’t be able to defend myself well and still hold onto my captive. Who, strangely enough, hadn’t said a word. I quickly glanced at him and he was breathing and still awake, thank goodness. As I looked up from the poor guy the elevator door opened. My stomach did a little flip, then I saw Phil and it calmed down.

  “What are you doing?” He half yelled at me.

  “He rushed me, so…” I gestured to the guard with my head by way of explanation.

  “Let him up so he can go back to his post.”

  As I released the guy I apologized to him. He stood and gave me a nod and entered the elevator.

  “So, do you feel better now?”

  “Not really. I’m sorry. Can we keep this between us?” I asked.

  “If you promise not to do it again.”

  “I won’t. Let’s go in and call for lunch. My treat.”

  Phil and I went into my apartment. I let him make the call for lunch while I cleaned up a little. Then the two of us sat in the kitchen. We talked a little but it was somewhat awkward and forced. Finally the doorbell rang. I got up to answer it, but Phil said he would get it.

  He opened the door to White. “Lunch?” He asked Phil with raised eyebrows.

  “Yes, sir.” Phil immediately stood at attention. I got up from my stool and retrieved our lunch.

  “Come on Phil,” I said to him as I walked past him. “Do you want to join us?” I asked White.

  “Sure.” His tone was moderately perturbed.

  “Why aren’t you at your post?” White asked Phil.

  “I invited him in for lunch since he wouldn’t let me go anywhere.” I defended him before he could answer. “You took your sweet time getting up here.”

  “I got sidetracked.” He wasn’t going to offer any other explanation.

  The three of us sat in the kitchen and ate our lunches without much more talk. Phil was obviously relieved when he finished eating and could excuse himself. He thanked me for lunch and quickly left.

  “So, you and Phil have become fast friends.” White said accusingly.

  “What? I am going crazy sitting here in this apartment and he’s a nice diversion from the same old thing. Why am I even explaining this to you? You haven’t told me what took you so long. You must have had a lot of catching up to do with Lacewell,” now my tone had become accusatory.

  White smiled and raised his eyebrows at me, which made me extremely angry. I smiled back at him and raised my eyebrows, which spoiled his fun. He thought he had me and he did, I just wasn’t going to let him know it.

  “So, what have you been doing all day then?” He changed the subject.

  “I found out where Ed Grimes is, kind of.”

  “Kind of?”

  “Yeah, he took a cruise but never came back.”

/>   “Well, that’s a start. Where did he get off then?”

  “That’s the thing, he didn’t.” I shrugged my shoulders.

  “You’re saying he boarded but never got off?” I nodded my head in agreement. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t get off the ship.”

  “I know. His ticket wasn’t the only one bought at the same time. There were three others and if we can find them, maybe we can find Ed.”

  “Did Ed buy the tickets?”

  “I don’t know. They were bought with cash so it could have been anyone. I’m more concerned with who was on the cruise with him. Two of the names look familiar,” I had retrieved the printed manifest and circled all four of the names. “But I can’t place them. Hincal Basar isn’t familiar but I was going to network with C.I.C. to see what I could find out.”

  “That’s a good idea. Why don’t we go down there right now and we can work on this together.” He had become engrossed in what I had been telling him.

  Phil was at his post once again. While we waited for the elevator to reach my floor White apologized to him for the long hours. He then told him that he appreciated him coming up with the extra help for the new situation. I kept quiet, but was wondering what the new situation was.

  After the door closed on the elevator and we were alone I asked, “What new situation?”

  “Oh, that’s why I was so late coming up to your apartment. Victor Strom came to the office and begged us to protect him. We’ve got him stashed here in the building.”

  “Really?” Now I was even more curious. “Protect him from what?”

  “Penumbra. We were right as to why he wanted us to contact him. He does have a hit out on him and the time allowed is almost passed.” He went onto explain that with the calling card Penumbra set a date for Strom’s death. According to the card he only had a couple of days left. I was only half listening to his explanation of the situation. I knew we couldn’t be protecting someone from Penumbra because I knew who Penumbra was.

  “We can’t protect him from Penumbra,” I finally interrupted him.

  “Why not? Do you even know why Penumbra is going to kill him?”

  “No, but I’m sure it’s politically motivated.” I was feeling panicky.

  We stepped off the elevator and White didn’t reply until we were both in his apartment.

  “How do you know it’s not for money?” He asked me.

  “I’ve been doing some research and I know Penumbra never works for money alone.” I couldn’t tell him I knew who Penumbra was, even though that would be the best defense.

  “Really. Do you know who Penumbra is?”

  “All I know is that’s it’s not a good idea to harbor Victor Strom if Penumbra is after him.”

  “You’re going to have to offer up a little more information to convince me of that.” White was standing directly in front of me and I was feeling intimidated.

  “I can’t,” I looked at the floor. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

  “We’ve already taken it on. I’ll do a little research of my own and get back to you about it.”

  “But,” I continued to argue but he cut me off.

  “I want you in C.I.C. working on Ed Grimes and I’ll make some calls. We will talk more about this when I’m done.”

  *****

  Chapter Seventeen

  I knew I couldn’t argue with him unless I could give him more specifics so I went into C.I.C. and started searching the name Hincal Basar while he picked up his phone.

  Over the past few days I had gotten used to having to work for my information, but White and Associates was granted a medium security pass to the government computer. I hadn’t thought of using C.I.C. before in my searches and was a little disappointed when the information I was searching for came up so easily.

  Hincal Basar was on the terrorist watch list. What was it with these damn terrorists? Why did we keep running into them? Then I found that he was in custody under the orders and supervision of one Admiral Stanton. I felt my stomach turn at this information. I decided to search Ed Grimes and found nothing.

  About this time the name Penumbra was mentioned in White’s phone conversation that I was half listening too. My stomach did another flip and I redirected my attention to the phone call.

  “Yes, sir.” I heard him say. I had walked to the door leading into White’s apartment and stood still, hoping he wouldn’t notice me. I figured he was talking to someone about protecting Strom.

  “Yes, sir. I have everyone working on it. I’m sorry I haven’t gotten the information you need yet, but it’s hard to control everyone when I’m not behind the desk.”

  “No, sir. Oh, of course, sir.” What was going on? Who was he talking to? I was beginning to get nervous.

  “Yes, Grey is working on that right now. If we could just talk to Basar, I’m sure Red could get the information you need out of him. Yes, I know,” there was a short pause. “Please forgive me sir, but is there something you should be telling me?” This was followed by a longer pause. “Yes, sir, I understand. Grey is good at what she does, I don’t think it will be long now. Thank you again, sir. I will be in contact soon.” He hung up the phone and turned to see me standing there.

  “So, did you find anything yet?” he asked. I had made sure to pretend as if I were just coming out of the C.I.C. room.

  “Not really. Are you ready to talk about protecting Strom?” I didn’t know who he had been talking to, but it sounded as if he were taking orders. He had said we might get the information the other person on the line needed to know if we could just talk to Basar. According to the computer Basar was in my father’s custody, but did White know that. I was tempted to ask him about this but I didn’t want him to know I had been eaves-dropping.

  “We will keep Strom here for now.” I had opened my mouth to counter him but he added, “I won’t talk about this with you until I know a little more about why Penumbra is after Strom,” but his face told me that he was more apprehensive of the situation now.

  “Fine. Let’s get to work on Ed then.”

  The two of us went back into the C.I.C. room and I started to tell him what I had found out about Basar, being careful to omit the part about my dad having him in custody. While I was giving him the information I was trying to remember where I had seen the other two names on the cruise manifest.

  Before I finished explaining about Basar, I had it. I had seen them in the employment records of K&G Systems. I turned to the computer I was sitting in front of and reopened that file. There they were, Randolph Tabor and Ken Rafferty. Randolph was an accountant for K&G and Ken held the esteemed title of data processor.

  My mind went back to a conversation I had with John Keffler. He had told me that an accountant had opened his eyes to the missing money and a man named Ken had told him about the data transfers. Coincidence? I didn’t think so. I wanted to do a little more checking but I was sure I would find Randolph Tabor had gone missing right about the time Ed did. However, Ken Rafferty was a question mark because it was his ticket that had been cashed in. He might be the key to it all.

  While I was reading, White interrupted me.

  “What are we looking at?” He had moved and was standing behind me looking at the computer screen. I showed him the names and told him about what Keffler had told me.

  “I guess we just need to find one of them to hopefully get some answers.”

  “I’m going to make sure Randolph isn’t around first. If he took the cruise and came back maybe he knows where Ed is.”

  “I suspect you will find he didn’t come back either. Before we get into this any further, what do you think happened?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose they could all be involved in some way. That would explain why they took off together. But why would they point it out to Keffler?”

  “My thoughts exactly. Let’s get to work. I’ll work on Ken and you take Randolph.”

  It was hard to fully concentrate for several reasons. For one thi
ng, I was in a room alone with White but mainly because of his earlier conversation on the phone. Who had he been talking to? While these thoughts tumbled around in my head I had discovered Randolph Tabor had the same story as Ed Grimes. He boarded but never departed. So they were probably still together or both dead. Being on the cruise with Hincal Basar didn’t bode well for either of them unless they were friends with the guy.

  White was still occupied with finding Ken Rafferty so I took the liberty of hacking the phone line. I discovered the last number that had been dialed from White’s personal phone was to Bulgaria. I knew that Bulgaria is close to Turkey, but still an anti-terrorist country. What did this mean?

  I also knew my father had Basar in custody, but why and where I did not know. Basar is probably the guy who intercepted the data transfers; but why would Dad be investigating that and not let the N.S.A. know what was going on? This thought brought me back again to why would Dad be holding Basar? I doubted it had anything to do with what I had discovered at K&G Systems.

  White scared me out of it by saying, “I think I found him.”

  “Who?” I asked without thinking.

  White gave me a strange look and said, “Ken Rafferty. He’s got family in Montana and I’ve found a rental car in his name that is currently still being used in Montana.”

  “Do you have the address?”

  “Yes, and the phone number. Did you find the accountant?”

  “Yes, same story as Ed.”

  “I’m going to give them a call to see if he’s still there,” with that he went to the phone in C.I.C.

  “Yes, is Ken available?” I half listened to White talking with Ken but mostly wrestled with the thoughts in my head. Maybe I should tell White everything I knew and he could help me figure this out. I decided to do just that when he finally hung up the phone

  “I’m going downstairs to talk to the guys. I’m going to send a couple of them to talk to Ken. Did you want to come with me?”

  “Would it be alright if I stayed here?” I asked.

  “I’m going to make a call first but when I come back, I’ll bring some food.” He moved into his apartment and I heard him dialing the phone.