Interestingly enough, he could watch Marat and not feel the same thing. He'd not been in town when Marat died, he’d never met the man, and none of that was in any way his fault. But Johanna … thinking of Johanna made him wince, made his breathing stop sometimes and his eyes begin to feel the pressure from behind.
Her voice came from the speakers again. "Go, Marat. Do it."
He and Eleri watched as Marat Rychenkov gleefully walked away from the camera. He held a system in his hands that looked almost like a video game. It looked like a hand controller but a little bit larger. Still, Eleri was pointing that out as Donovan saw it. "So it looks like he stole that from a gaming system, but not one that I know. What’s he going to control?"
They watched, then, just as Eleri uttered the words, the camera—clearly controlled by Johanna Schmitt, panned downward. On the ground was an array of dots. Or at least that's what Donovan thought they were, until they began to buzz. After a moment of this, they lifted into the air and flew away.
"His drones," Eleri murmured.
It took Donovan a moment to realize he was looking at the ones from the bottom shelf in the garage. He had seen three sets and this was the contingent of tiny, black, round drones. Those had been greatest in number and smallest in size. He watched as they lifted off of the ground, remaining in the formation that they'd been parked in.
They buzzed and then—while he watched and Johanna commented from somewhere off screen—they flew right over her head. Marat controlled them from the small console. Donovan saw this as the camera panned back toward her husband. Johanna's laughter came through loud and clear. "You did it, Marat! They're off."
"Yes. Let's see what happens." Her husband’s tone was now less celebratory and more experimental.
But Donovan watched carefully as the drones flew in formation. Johanna turned, wheeling the camera, trying to follow their flight. The background showed that they were at a park, and Donovan and Eleri watched as the grouping buzzed past the seesaws.
Marat flew the drones directly toward the swing set, and Donovan watched, fascinated, as they parted like a flock of birds, avoiding chains and slipping under arches. After that, they buzzed their way cleanly through the monkey bars.
"So far, so good," Johanna commented, but a moment too soon. Just then, the camera watched as Marat flew the grouping into a tree. Though the drones managed to miss the trunk, several got caught up in the leaves.
Donovan paused the video. "Do you think the drones couldn't see the leaves, or maybe the leaves moved at the last moment?”
"Maybe there was wind," Eleri said. "I don’t know."
So he hit the play button again and watched. The camera then almost immediately panned downward, as though she were done but forgot to turn off the recording. Marat's voice came through. "No, no, Johanna. Keep filming."
Several of the drones had dropped to the ground. Several others remained up in the tree. But for the most part, the batch went on. They flew around the park two or three more times, with Marat purposefully running them into treetops. A few were lost each time.
That was it. The video ended. Donovan frowned.
"What did we watch?" Eleri asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it'll become clear in the next one." So they watched another video.
This time, there were fewer drones. Donovan recognized a different batch from the shelves in the garage. Whereas they appeared to have been ready to go before the filming started in the first video, this time, they started from off. He and Eleri watched as tiny lights blinked on, first in the center drone and then in the remaining twelve drones around him. One at a time, each one blinked a small red light, until finally all were lit. Donovan had no idea what he was watching.
“Oh, that looks good," Marat commented, though he was facing away from the camera.
Once again, Johanna filmed the whole endeavor. Once again, the drones flew around the park. They flew around obstacles and they flew into trees. This time, Marat only lost two.
"But he started with a smaller number," Eleri pointed out. Again, they couldn't solve anything. Donovan still had no idea why this might be important.
They watched another video that looked much like the first. Then, in the last two videos, Johanna wasn’t present. This time, the exercise seemed to take place in a closed room. It had chairs and a lectern, as though he were in a classroom in a church or community center or something like that.
Donovan and Eleri watched again as Marat started the camera and propped it into the corner, his kind face filling the screen. Whatever skills the man had with robotics did not carry over to his camera work.
The fourth video looked much the same, though this one occurred in the same room, with the same set of drones, and apparently the same task. Several of the drones dropped out of the chaos along the way.
But in the last video, Marat only hit a button and set the controller down, almost as though to show the watcher he didn’t need it. Donovan saw the drones take flight and zoom around the room in various directions. This time, their flight looked like chaos. Four minutes of wild activity later, they returned. Each drone settled down into its original starting place as though nothing had happened.
Marat turned to the camera and smiled.
29
"I don't get it," Eleri sighed, more frustrated now than before they’d opened the file and seen what was on it. "What did we just watch?"
"We watched Marat Rychenkov playing with drones," Donovan answered, though by the tone of his voice, she could tell he also hadn't figured out anything beyond that.
They watched all the videos. When they'd gotten through them all once, they immediately viewed them each a second time. This time, they listened carefully to the words between Marat and Johanna, checking for any obvious signs of code passing between them.
Eleri shook her head as they entered the last video in which Johanna was present. "I don't hear anything. The conversation isn't stilted. There aren't any strange wordings. It doesn't sound like they're speaking memorized lines or anything that could indicate a code. If they are doing it, they’re damn good."
Donovan also shook his head, but he was agreeing there was nothing there—at least not that he could detect. "If they were passing some kind of sign language or signals, we would at least see Marat's side of it. If we only saw Marat's side of it, then it wouldn't be the thing that was important to have on the video, right?"
"I would guess," Eleri said, and as they spoke, Donovan went back to the first video and they watched it all a third time.
"What are we looking for this time?" she asked.
"The drones. Let's see if they spell out any words or numbers or tell us anything that will help break the code. Or maybe they are the code."
Eleri agreed, and the two of them leaned in close to the screen again. This time, they ignored the conversation between the husband and wife and watched as the batch of many small drones lifted off the ground, their little wings in flight, buzzing like hummingbirds and bees.
The machines stayed in formation until they got to the swing set, at which point they moved around the items in their way. They flowed almost like water, moving slightly to one side or another, not bumping, and then reassuming the original formation once they were clear of the obstacle. The swings themselves, the chains, even the monkey bars, posed no problems. But at last, they came up against the trees.
Already knowing what would happen, they paused the video here again.
"How many did he lose?" she asked.
"Three or four."
"Is that a code?… I can't imagine it would be, though," she answered her own question.
Donovan answered her anyway. "It's got to be too random. I mean, the only other option is that he flew the drone set into the tree, knowing that he would control dropping a certain number of them out. That would mean they could fly through the trees safely, which it really appeared they couldn't. Thus, he didn’t drop them on purpose.”
Eleri was nodding
her agreement, though her eyes were going unfocused. Donovan kept talking. "And he was swearing when the drones dropped out, which is probably why Johanna turned the camera toward the ground.”
Though they analyzed all the drone movement, the machines didn't spell out any words. They didn't light up in any particular way that could be followed.
"It's not Morse," Eleri said. “Nor binary.”
"No, I don't see any alphabets either."
They watched through the whole thing again, coming to the end of the first video with no better idea what it might mean than they’d had the first time.
"Maybe it's a dummy. Maybe the code's in the next video." But they watched it, too, and found nothing they could crack. There was nothing of use to solving the murders, other than the drones flying around the park.
"Does it matter the order that they're in? Do the first letters of the video names spell out a five-letter word?"
As they looked, they realized the videos weren't even named. They just bore what looked like a random naming system given by the camera.
"The video systems are different," Donovan pointed out as they looked at the pulled-up display.
"Yes, it appears these three are from Johanna's phone." Eleri pointed to the screen. “I’m assuming that because she was clearly the one filming. And the other two are from a different phone entirely. I guess it could be the same, but the setup is different.”
"Johanna was there—we saw her in the first three—and in the last two, it looks as though Marat is filming it himself without anyone else present."
Donovan hit the button and they watched again. This time, Donovan made an observation. "In the fourth video, some of the little drones fly into things in the room. One of them flew into a chair and it dropped out. One of them flew into something else. But in the second one, they don't. All the drones make it back."
"Right," Eleri nodded. "And in the fourth and fifth videos, Marat's wearing the same clothing. So we need to get some geo-tagging on this, and some timestamps, and see if these two were filmed one right after the other. It looks highly plausible, given the scenario."
"But the first three," Donovan said, "appear very much to have been filmed on different days. They're both wearing different clothing. Johanna's voice sounds a little different. The cloud cover's different. It looks like they're even at different times of day."
"Okay, so we need to get the FBI analysts to look at this. I think we need to take it in." Eleri finally came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t be able to get everything they needed without doing so.
Donovan agreed with her, and he added, "We need to get together with Wade. We need to have a real brainstorming session about everything we've learned in town, and I want to call, but we can't, and I want to go over, but we can't."
Eleri agreed. "So we call the Bureau field office in Omaha, and have them call Wade on a secure line. They can set up our meet up there at the branch office tomorrow."
Donovan agreed. They set up the call, knowing they would only get a return call if something was wrong and Wade wouldn't be able to make it.
Then they watched the videos on repeat into the night. When it was dark outside, Eleri finally called off the dogs. "It's time. We need to go change. It's dark enough, but any later, and we will look weird."
They'd agreed that they would put a tracker on Jivika Das's car this evening. They would hit Greg Whitlow's tomorrow while he was at work. They were trying to make the two missions to attach the equipment—times and methods—as different as possible in hopes that no one would recognize that the same thing had happened to both cars.
After closing out the computer and tucking the small drive into a safe space, they headed off to their rooms. Eleri dressed in dark colors, but nothing that would look like they were about to commit a cat burglary. Just enough so they didn't draw attention.
As they drove toward Das’s neighborhood, Eleri told Donovan, "The good news is, it's plausible I could be buying a house in the neighborhood, and there's a home for sale several doors down from Jivika."
The first problem they noticed as they turned into the subdivision was that Jivika lived in a neighborhood they'd only driven through before. Kangaroo Court was a development where Bennett encouraged the residents among them who had strange pets to live all together. He even had an enclosure in the middle as a dog/other creature park.
The central space was several acres large and featured obstacle courses, horse jumps, and smaller, gated areas that were designated for trick rabbits or ferrets or something Eleri had yet to figure out. The “Court,” as it was called, was the center around which all the houses were built. Other separate areas included spaces for deer to exist happily in the neighborhood. Eleri had even seen them wandering in and out between the homes. It seemed more than one resident had planted deer-friendly gardens, and she’d seen signs suggesting rabbits were welcome, though Eleri had not figured out if that meant wild ones or the neighbor’s pet or both …
Bennett had worked to create Kangaroo Court with a team including a developer, an architect, and a biologist in an effort to establish a safe haven for both animals and animal lovers.
“Is that a ferret?” Donovan pointed out the window, his question more of a shocked statement than something requiring an answer.
Eleri shrugged. She’d seen a small streak go by but hadn’t caught it well enough identify the species. The kicker was that there was no person out with it. It must be wild, whatever it was.
The problem, she realized as they began driving around, looking at the houses even though many were not for sale, was that people with strange pets apparently walked their animals at strange hours. There were more people and animals out on the sidewalks than she would have expected.
"Is that a llama?" Donovan asked, "or an alpaca?"
"I think it’s an alpaca, but I'm a human physiologist. I can't promise you I can tell the difference." This time, Eleri did see the animal in question. A young woman was walking down the street in a hooded jacket, her hands in her pockets against the chill that increased as the night got older. And the alpaca, or llama as it were, followed along, docile on his leash.
Eleri parked her car in front of the house that was for sale. As they got out of the car, they looked the house up and down as though Eleri were a prospective buyer. Once they had sufficiently checked out the empty home, they walked down the street toward Jivika Das's.
Eleri had noticed in the morning—and Donovan had confirmed from following her in the evening—that Jivika, like Johanna Schmitt, parked in her driveway, not inside the garage. At least it made their job easier. She and Donovan chatted about the neighborhood, about the lights, about the animal noises, and for a moment, Eleri wondered if Donovan's sensitive ears and senses were going crazy. They had to be, with this much strange wildlife so close.
But she didn't want to say anything. It wasn't necessary, and the rule was you never said anything that might blow your cover unless it was absolutely necessary. Eleri's phone pinged, and she stopped to check the message that had popped up.
"It's from Maggie," she said, holding up the phone to Donovan. Maggie wanted to know if she would go to coffee the next morning. Her new friend had said she usually went with Johanna once a week. She read the message out loud. “I can’t not go. And I can’t bring myself to go alone. Can I pester you to be my new coffee buddy?”
Eleri texted back that she would definitely be there, before sliding the phone back into her pocket and using the motion to palm the tracking device. Her heart kicked up a little, though she’d learned not to let it show.
She’d been standing near Jivika’s car, the text a perfect excuse to turn and act as though she was turning away from the streetlight to see her phone better. She faced the car now.
Eleri had worn heeled boots for just this purpose, and as she turned to follow Donovan, she let her ankle look as though it was twisting. With a small cry, she fell down right next to Jivika's car.
As Donovan
looked startled—a good job on his part, because he’d known exactly how this would go—he reached down to help her up. Eleri reached one hand for his and the other for the tire well. She sure hoped she looked like she was bracing herself instead of surreptitiously placing the tracker just under the lip of metal around the back tire.
She was finally standing up and brushing herself off when she heard the voice. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm good now." She smiled and offered a nod as though it was okay.
"I saw you go down."
"Thank you for checking on me.” It was only then that Eleri noticed the cat on a leash.
The woman startled her with the way she frowned at Donovan, then looked to Eleri with a suspicious hint in her eye. "Are you a neighbor?"
"Oh no. I mean, not yet! I'm checking the place out though, looking to buy the house," she pointed back down the street, toward the “for sale” sign. “I have a realtor friend back home who told me to check out the neighborhood in the evening. See if the streetlight comes in through the bedroom window or if everyone can see you eating dinner. What the nighttime traffic is like. Or in this case, if the alpacas cry at night or something.”
The woman’s face lit up with a laugh. “Oh no, he’s a llama, and they are pretty quiet. But the whole thing about them spitting is true. Don’t try to pet one.”
Eleri was laughing, but just then the woman squinted her eyes at Donovan. “Are you the new doctor at the clinic?”
He had to say yes. And Eleri thought it went as well as it could, but the fact was, they had been made.
30
Though Eleri was confident they hadn’t actually been caught planting the tracker on Jivika Das’s car, it was clear they'd been seen and Donovan had even been recognized. Thus, they decided to hold off on placing a tracker on Greg Whitlow's car for another day.
Given the change of plans, Donovan headed into the clinic in the early hours, attempting to get in a reasonable shift before noon. Eleri didn't wake up to wave him goodbye; she had another job this morning.
The Camelot Gambit Page 18