The Agent's Daughter

by Ron Corriveau

  “Well… no. That would be my fault,” Evan said.

  “Laura has presented us with a condition that no doctor we have contacted has ever seen. When we first received her as a patient, she was in a deep coma with little brain activity. Then, as the month wore on, she gained more brain activity. Not complete recovery, but measurable improvement. However, at the end of that month, all improvement in the brain activity ceased and she regressed back to the state she was in when we first saw her.”

  “So she got better and then got worse?” Evan asked.

  “I wouldn’t say she was better, but we could tell from the brain scans that Laura’s condition was improved from when she arrived. But here is the weird part. After her return to the earlier state, she started to get better again. This also lasted for about a month and then the same thing happened. She regressed back to her initial state. This pattern has happened five times. Not longer than five weeks and not shorter than three weeks. It’s as if her brain is trying to reboot.”

  “Could her tears be an indication that the cycle is broken and that she is getting better?” Melina asked.

  “It is too early to tell. The tear could still be involuntary, a reaction to hearing your father’s voice,” the doctor said as he walked to the door. “I’ll run a new series of tests as soon as I can and see if there actually is something going on. For now, I must go back to my rounds. Goodbye Melina, Mr. Roberts.”

  Melina looked over at her dad who held out his arms to her. She walked over to him, and he gave her a hug.

  “Thank you for making me come back here,” he said. “I will no longer doubt that Mom is going to get better. You have my word.”

  ………………………….

  After the visit to the hospital, Evan felt better about Melina driving, so he agreed to let her drive home. Melina was enjoying the drive and was excited to be driving on a freeway for the first time.

  “So, there is some trouble with that boy?” Evan asked.

  “He is not that boy,” Melina said. “His name is Alex. And no, I am not having a problem. I merely saw that he appeared to be having lunch with another girl from school. That’s all. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Sounds like trouble,” Evan said.

  “Yes, she is,” Melina sighed.

  “Watch out, kiddo,” Evan said. “The traffic is starting to slow down. Must be an accident ahead. Just keep your distance from the car in front of you.”

  After a few more minutes, the traffic on the freeway ground to a complete halt.

  “We are totally stopped,” Melina said. “What should I do?”

  “The same thing as everybody else,” Evan said. “Just sit and wait. When traffic is completely stopped like this, it usually means that the accident was severe enough that the police had to close the freeway. We are going to be here a while.”

  Melina looked out the windows around her. The car was surrounded by other cars that were also not moving.

  “You can put the car in Park if you want,” Evan said.

  Just then, the muffled sounds of idling vehicles were drowned out by a cell phone ringing. It was Evan’s. He took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. It was Arthur Glass calling.

  “Hello Arthur,” he said as he answered.

  “Evan. I need you to come into work immediately. There has been a … development since our meeting this morning.”

  “I would be about a half an hour away from there, but right now we are over on I-35. There has been an accident ahead of us, so the whole freeway is closed. We are surrounded by other cars, and we aren’t going anywhere.”

  “We? Are you still with your daughter?”

  “That would be affirmative.”

  “Time is critical, Evan. I am dispatching someone to come and pick you up. I understand that your daughter is not aware. Is that a problem?”

  “I’ll try to explain it as best I can.”

  “Very well. Is the GPS transponder in your watch active?” Arthur asked.

  Evan laughed. “I’m an agent. It’s always on.”

  “Okay, our crew shall be there shortly. Goodbye.”

  “Who was that on the phone, Daddy?” Melina said.

  Evan had to think of an explanation fast.

  “That was my boss. A virus has attacked some of my code, and automated tellers all over the state are shutting down because of it. I have to go back in to work to try to fix it. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to take you home, so you will have to come with me.”

  Melina looked at her dad with a cold stare. “We have to go to your work?”

  “Don’t worry. I know it has been a long day, and you just want to get home, but we will only be there a few hours. I promise. There is another thing, though. The situation at work can’t wait for us to break free of this traffic, so they are sending someone to get us. Don’t be alarmed when they arrive.”

  “Coming to get us? What, are they sending a cop car or something like that?”

  “Something like that. When we get to my work, you can hang out in my office while I’m in the software lab and then we will go straight home.”

  “Okay, Daddy.”

  They sat in silence for a while as Melina looked around at the other drivers that now were getting out of their cars and standing on their toes to get a better look at the situation. This was not the fun drive that she had imagined.

  Evan heard the noise first, and he listened for the direction that the sound was coming from. It started out as a faint humming noise, but it quickly became unusually loud.

  “What on earth is that noise?” Melina said.

  Evan looked out the passenger window as a helicopter hovered over the shoulder of the freeway twenty yards from the car. It turned slightly to align itself with the emergency lane pavement and came to a rest on the ground, the main rotor blades never slowing down. A man got out of the helicopter and ran toward them.

  “Our ride is here,” Evan said as he turned to Melina.

  “Our what?” Melina said loudly.

  Evan got out of the car, ran over to Melina’s door, and opened it. She still had her hands on the wheel and looked up at him with a look of utter bewilderment.

  “Leave the keys in the car and let’s go.”

  Evan took Melina’s hand and held it tight as she got out. Just then, the man from the helicopter ran up to them.

  “Keys are still in the car, Chris,” Evan said.

  “I’ll put it in your space over in the parking garage,” Chris said.

  Evan gently pulled on Melina’s hand and coaxed her into a half-run toward the helicopter. He opened the side door and helped Melina into a seat.

  “Hey Devon,” Evan said to the pilot as he climbed in. “This is my daughter, Melina. It’s her first time. Take it easy.”

  Melina settled into her seat and looked over at her dad with a wild-eyed expression that was at once exhilaration and confusion. The noise increased as the helicopter lifted off the ground and headed toward downtown.

  Once they were under way, Melina did not ask any more questions about why they were in a helicopter. Evan was grateful as he did not like lying to her. She spent the duration of the trip as most people do when they take their first helicopter ride, looking out the window and calling out each thing on the ground that they recognize. The trip to downtown was short, and the helicopter touched down on a helipad on the top of the parking garage next to the agency building. Once on the ground, the pilot cut the power to the engine, and it changed pitch as it slowly began to wind down.

  Melina was still looking out the window when she felt her dad’s hand on her shoulder. “Okay, kiddo. It’s time to go.”

  Evan opened the helicopter door and got out. He helped Melina out, and the two of them headed for the parking garage stairs. After walking down four flights, they entered a door into the agency building at the lobby level.

  “Why is there a line of people over there?” Melina asked as they walked across th
e lobby.

  “That is the security checkpoint,” Evan said. “You know, just like at the airport. X-rays, empty your pockets, cavity search, etcetera.”

  Melina stared at the line and began to slow down until she came to a complete stop. Evan didn’t notice. He kept right on walking until he found that he was alone. He turned around and walked back to Melina.

  “Something wrong?” he asked as he approached.

  “I... I... have to go to the bathroom,” she said, still looking toward the security line and not at her dad.

  “Can you wait until we get to my office?” Evan asked.

  Melina shook her head.

  “There is a restroom over here,” Evan said as he began to walk toward it. Melina followed closely behind. He glanced down at his watch as they walked. He needed to go to the meeting right away, but his daughter had to use the restroom, and that came first.

  Evan walked with her right up to the door. “I will be right outside.”

  It was an old habit. Him telling Melina that he was right outside. When she was much younger, she finally reached a point where she no longer could go into the men’s restroom with her dad. He never felt comfortable letting her go into the restroom by herself, but there was no alternative when Laura was not with them. He would station himself just outside the door and scrutinize each woman that went inside. If he felt that she was taking a little longer than expected, he would crack open the door a little, and yell into the room to ask her if everything were okay. It never came to it that her dad had to burst into the restroom and get her out, but he was always prepared to do it just the same.

  After a few minutes, Melina emerged. “Everything is fine now,” she said.

  They continued their walk through the lobby, passing the end of the line of people and walking up to a counter next to the front of the line. As they approached, Evan took out his agency badge and showed it to the man behind the counter.

  The man lifted his arm and waved them through. Evan never broke stride as he continued walking past the counter. Melina fell a little behind as she paused for a moment at the counter, thinking they had to stop.

  “Don’t we have to go through the security screening?” Melina asked as she caught up to her dad.

  Evan chuckled. “Uh… no.”

  ………………………….

  The meeting was already underway when Evan got to the main video conference room. The lights were off and the light emitted by the video screen showing the President in her office was the only illumination. She was engaged in a one-on-one conversation with William Mason. Evan could see Arthur through the semi darkness, but he did not see David. He took a seat next to Arthur.

  Arthur leaned over to Evan and whispered, “Sorry to call you back in here while you were with your daughter.”

  “That’s okay, Arthur,” Evan replied. “She thought the helicopter ride was impressive, and I have her set up with the computer in my office. She’s logged into some online social networking site that she likes.”

  “You haven’t missed much. The President did not want to begin the meeting until you got here, so she has been going over some logistical items related to the situation with William. The tools group will have to support the Department of Defense in the region going forward. ”

  “Evan is here now, Madam President,” Arthur said to the video screen.

  “Howdy, ma’am,” Evan followed.

  “Thank you for coming, dear,” she said. “Since our earlier meeting, the satellite reconnaissance team has detected increased activity in and around the nuclear site in Malazistan.”

  “What is the nature of this activity?” William said.

  “You name it,” the President said. “Cars, trucks and helicopters have been coming into and leaving the base in droves. There have been large containers moved between buildings, and defensive positions are being established around the perimeter of the base.”

  “Sounds like Evan’s visit has lit a fire under them,” Arthur chuckled.

  “That is what we were thinking,” the President said. “It’s clear that they no longer believe they have stealth on their side and are beginning to start the process of refining uranium. There is movement all around the reactor building. It’s hard to tell, but it appears that the massive cooling units on the roof have been turned on.”

  “Wait a minute,” Evan said. “Cooling units? On the roof? I landed right next to them. They were on.”

  Arthur leaned in, “I would think that there would be no reason for those cooling units to be on unless the reactor was already operational. Are you sure they were on?”

  “Absolutely,” Evan said. “They were fairly loud. Anyway, I could feel the updraft from them in my parachute.”

  “If the cooling units were functioning at that time,” Arthur continued, “that would seem to indicate that they were already processing uranium before Evan arrived.”

  “But the detector did not pick up any uranium at the building,” Evan said.

  “Perhaps they were processing the uranium, and then removed it before Evan got there,” Arthur said.

  “That only would make sense if they knew I was coming,” Evan said.

  “Oh, come on,” William said. “How would they have found out?”

  “Maybe, somebody told them,” Evan said.

  William looked away in disgust. “This is getting us nowhere. They must have started the cooling units in anticipation of the uranium being loaded into the reactor building.”

  “Gentleman, that is enough,” the President said. “We have a serious situation on our hands. I need your teams to cooperate. Now Evan, can you think of anything else that might help the reconnaissance folks analyze the situation?”

  Evan thought for a moment. “I cannot think of anything right now. Other than spending some time on the roof of the reactor building, I went straight for the helipad. I am afraid I am not much help.”

  “That’s okay, dear,” the President said. “Arthur, William, that is all I needed. I have to go to a meeting now with the Secretary of State. I will let you know if we need anything further from the agency.”

  Arthur got up and turned on the lights. “Evan, you can go for the day, William and I have to discuss administrative issues. Keep your phone with you.”

  Evan got up and walked out of the conference room.

  ………………………….

  As he walked into his office, Evan saw Melina sitting in his chair staring at the computer monitor on his desk.

  “Hey, kiddo,” he said.

  Melina did not look up, but she did offer some half-garbled sound that served as a hello back to Evan. She was deep into reading a post on the PosterBoard social networking site.

  “I can’t believe my friend Lindsey went through with getting her hair highlighted,” she said as looked over at her dad.

  “I would love to hear about Lindsey’s hair adventures,” Evan said as he moved toward the desk, “but I need to check my email so we can get going.”

  Melina got up from the chair and walked over to the window. Evan had a spectacular view from the seventh floor, and on a clear day like today, you could see all the way to Love Field airport.

  Evan sat down and called up the email program. Once it loaded, he scanned down the list of new emails. It was an endless list of forwards and carbon copieds. The usual, routine office emails. As he scrolled down the list, there was an email that caught his eye. It was from what appeared to be the agency security department. The email was not from a person but was from a general security email address. Evan thought that it was more office spam, but then he looked at the title of the email: Laura’s Accident.

  Evan immediately clicked on the email to open it. It read:

  Laura’s accident. Maybe not an accident. See the attached picture from the red light camera at the intersection.

  Evan was now anxious. He knew of the intersection where Laura had her accident. He avoided it because it was just too painful for him to s
ee it, but he remembered that the intersection had a red light camera. It took pictures of people that had run a red light at the intersection and then mailed them a ticket. A photo was included with the ticket as proof. There must be some mistake. He had not received a ticket in the mail. Although, the more he thought about it, he had received a lot of mail related to Laura’s accident that he had tossed aside because he couldn’t bear to open it.

  Evan clicked on the attachment and a picture opened and filled the screen. It was a picture of the front end of a car, clearly showing the front bumper, the hood, and the windshield of the car. He recognized the license plate as the one from his car. Through the windshield, you could see Laura. But there was something wrong. She was not sitting up. She was slumped over to the side of the car with her face tilted toward the passenger seat. Her eyes were closed, and she did not have her hands on the steering wheel.

  Evan gasped. Melina heard him, stepped away from the window, and looked over his shoulder at the computer screen.

  “That’s a picture of Mom in your car!” Melina exclaimed.

  “The email indicated that it was from the red light camera at the intersection of the accident,” he said. “It says that her accident maybe was not an accident.”

  “Why isn’t she steering?” Melina said loudly. “She looks as if she’s asleep!”

  Evan arched his brow, “Something is not right. We need to show this picture to the police and have them investigate.”

  Evan pulled a flash drive from a drawer in his desk and connected it to the computer. He downloaded the picture onto the drive, removed it, and put it in his pocket.

  “Let’s go,” he said. “I want to go right to the police station.”

  They ran out of Evan’s office to the elevator, and Melina pressed the down button repeatedly.

  “One time is enough, kiddo,” Evan said calmly. “The numbers are moving, so it is on its way down.”