Samantha and Jahnni were the first to stop laughing so hard. Jahnni didn’t quite get it and said, “Wait, what’s so funny? You had built that enormous structure and apparently from what I heard, it purified water better than anyone else could.”
Zale waited while he caught his breath and stopped coughing. “My dear, there was a time a few decades ago, where my research was groundbreaking. I could have saved, literally saved, millions of lives at that time with my water technology. You must understand that research has always continued. Not only by me, but by many, many scientists in countries all over the world. My research back then is old news now. What took my entire plant to do, can now be done glass by glass with a straw. A STRAW! Now that is research that I am proud to say I contributed to... under an assumed name of course. If he would have just asked, I would have given him copies of that water purifying technology for nostalgia’s sake. My plant is old, even though I keep her from decay. She is like a beautiful woman that you have been married to for forty to fifty years. She was once a fresh faced young teenager and now, although the lines in her face reveal her age, she is still beautiful. She cannot run as fast, do somersaults, dance the night away, or produce children any longer, but her life is, was, and will continue to be as important as the earth itself. Sorry... I get carried away when I talk about her.”
“I get it,” Beau said softly. “You gave the project everything you had. You ended up, basically, giving it your entire life. You have lost so much. I hope that no matter what happens, we will all stay close now and be a family again.”
Zale wiped a tear from his cheek and shook his bowed head up and down. He reached for Beau with one arm, to hug him while he was sitting, and with the other arm he pulled his brother Arnad into a hug. “Yes, I would like that. This is all my fault. No amount of planning can fix this. I’ll take you all back to the airport. You can take me to whoever you think will listen. No doubt, there will be someone in charge of the whole scene there. I will explain everything. Of course, I may have to go to jail, eventually. But this has been a good life. I made a difference. I made good water. I have taught the Hungarian Water Preservation Council all that I know, and they teach others, working with communities all over the world.”
Arnad said softly, “There is plenty of time to catch up all these missing years, brother. But for now, I have warm heart knowing that I have you back again. By the way, where is Carlton? I have not seen him since we go to Monty’s funeral. I knew in my heart that since you were not there, that you must have died. I just hug Monty and express how much I miss you as well. He just hug me back and say nothing about you being alive.”
Zale continued explaining, “Carlton has known about this all these years. That is why he worked at the airport after his wife and son pass away. To watch. Keep vigil. We were also afraid that if someone came upon the river entrance then there would be a terrorist attack like none we have seen in an airport. But still, neither he, nor I knew what to do other than keep her secret safe. At first, I thought I was doing right by my family to disappear... in shame. When I heard about our dear boy being killed I knew he needed me and I began to think that possibly, I could figure out a way to surface again. But there were so many secrets! Where would I start? Who would I talk to? How could it be fixed? I couldn’t take a chance of being seen by old friends or even our family so I didn’t go to the funeral. My son needed me and I couldn’t be there for him. That tore me up.”
Zale began repeating his regrets. “This is a terrible thing I have allowed to happen. In the beginning, I thought I was going to figure out a way to buy back the property. Then construction started, and all the plans were in The Oregonian and The Columbian. I came here, to what was my off-site hidden office. But time kept coming and coming and passing and passing. I have made a life here,” he said as he waved his arm to encompass the underground building, “only leaving when I could safely slip back to land for things I need, or to catch a bus to Seattle when I had to fly to Europe. I mostly went out at night. And I couldn’t fly out from PDX because I was afraid someone would recognize me.”
Jahnni was still a little confused, “Let me get this straight. We are talking about the same Carlton that works at the airport? The Cart Man?”
“Yes. He knew about what I did and one day he just took it upon himself to keep an eye on the airport. He knew what was at stake. But so much tragedy in his life made him... tired. He said he just wanted to be my eyes and ears at the airport.”
“So, you have never been back to the... to that ginormous building that hides under the airport?” Jahnni asked.
Zale paused and considered his response. Several seconds, almost a full minute of silence passed before he answered, “I didn’t say that. Maybe you didn’t understand who ‘the old woman’ was that I spoke of minutes ago. I do go back and forth to check everything. I change lightbulbs, flush the water system. Walk around and tinker with knobs and switches. I owe it to her. The building. To take care of her. Then I come home here until I miss her again.”
Crutch smiled at Zale and said, “You are a good man. You seem like the kind of man that my dad would like. I get it though. You do something wrong, and before you can fix it, you do something else wrong. Then you try to think what to do about it and something else goes wrong. Before you know it, it has gotten so bad that you only want to hide.”
“You seem like a smart young man. How did you come to such wise understanding?” Zale asked.
Crutch smirked and paused to gather his words, “Well, a few years ago, my little brother just started playing t-ball. I was bored, so I figured I could use his tee for my baseball. I didn’t realize how easy it would be to hit a homer from my back yard. I swung, without thinking, and the ball went all the way over the neighbor’s house behind us, across the street and crashed through another neighbor’s front window. Apparently, some teenagers were driving by at the same time with their music bumping. The neighbor kid ran into his house and told his parents that some kids broke the window, and described a car full of teenagers. So, I didn’t say anything when I heard my mom and dad talking about how wild the neighborhood was getting when they were talking about the broken window. About a week later, I decided it was safe to try it again, but I was going to be super careful and only bunt the ball. But... it still went flying over the fence and into the next-door neighbor’s garage window.”
“And you still didn’t say anything?” Beau asked.
“No! They started having neighborhood watch meetings and forming groups to patrol the area at night and some people were watching the streets for bad guys. I felt like I had dug a hole too deep to get out. None of the other kids unlucky enough to be driving by when the first window broke were caught...”
Zale hummed, “Ahh... if you didn’t have to speak up, you decided the whole baseball-gate would blow over.”
“Ya!” Crutch agreed. “It just got crazy and the more time that went by, the crazier our neighborhood got. I mean Mr. Akiyama went out and bought a huge Great Pyrenees to protect his family! Then the Mills family enrolled all their kids in Krav Maga. I was waiting for my dad to order fly-overs above our house at night. It was so out of control.”
“You are a wise young man indeed. Sounds like you learned you lesson,” Samantha said as she hugged his shoulder. “You remind me of my little brother. Well, before he got to be 6’ 4”.”
Jahnni and Mr. T finished telling them every detail of their trip to the Port Manager’s office. And they all chipped in to tell Zale about the adventures once the alarms went off and the concourse was cleared. Beau had taken the seat next to Jahnni when they had all sat down. While he was talking, she felt some kind of weight land on the back of her chair. She made a casual glance behind her and saw that he was resting his arm on the back of her chair. She sat frozen, trying to hold back the smile on her face. Then a shiver ran down her spine.
“Are you still cold, Jahn?” Beau asked.
“Oh, that. Uh, No. I’m... quite warm. Thanks!”
She certainly didn’t want to tell Beau that he was the reason for that shiver, so she just sat still and enjoyed every second of his gentle attention... and allowed herself to lean ever so slightly in his direction. Then Jahnni turned to the rest of the group and joined the conversation about what they were going to do to get back to the airport. Before they were finally done talking about their plan, Samantha added, “If we aren’t going swimming again, I’m up for anything.”
Zale finished the plan by saying, “We’ll head up that staircase over there first. When we get to the top, I’ll raise up the boat. Then there is a landing that I always use on the other side of the river off Marine Drive. We’ll have to walk to the airport after that,” Zale said in a deadpan voice.
“WHAT?” Beau said immediately. “Pops can’t walk that far!”
“Oh, come on! I’m joking! Neither can I,” he chuckled. “Once I go up, I’ll have good reception and I’ll pull up the Uber app. I’ll request a car, probably something big though with this group,” Zale said. “It’ll meet us on Marine Drive above the boat landing. I’ve used them several times before.”
Crutch eagerly asked, “Boat? What kind of boat? What do you mean you will raise it up? Is it hidden? How did you hide it? Has anyone ever found it? How big is it? I can drive a boat! Can I drive it?”
“Big enough for the six of us to safely get off the island,” Zale answered. “And yes, it is hidden. I built a ‘boat garage’ that I can raise and lower. The top has dirt, grass and foliage so when it is down, no one can see it. When I use it, the roof raises, a levee is released and enough water from the Columbia River flows in so I can gently motor out to the river. I remotely signal the roof to recede and the canal empties the water back to the river. When I come back, I repeat, but backwards. And no, you can’t drive it. The Columbia River is one of the most dangerous rivers in the United States. It is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful, but it’s beauty is also deceitful with all the undertows and swirling water below the surface.”
“OH, MY GOSH! This is like 007 stuff! Or Mission Impossible! Or even better, Batman! Well, come-on guys! Let’s get going! We have an airport to save!” Crutch said as he paced back and forth from leg to leg. “Come on!”
Chapter 36
I’ll Be the Good Cop Now
“So, tell me Mr. Prattle. Can we get you something to drink? Are you hungry?” Pahlavi spoke softly, hoping he would forget how angry she’d been before.
He sat stoically and stared straight ahead, not answering her questions.
“You know, we are going to get to the bottom of whatever this is. We can do it smoothly and be honest with each other, or we can take days to get to the bottom of this. I am sure we both have the same goal in mind. To keep the airport safe and the people safer.” She sat casually with a hip on a counter, and one leg on the floor. “You seem like a man that knows his job well. So, let’s just put down the walls and have a conversation.”
He still sat there staring straight ahead, barely blinking; his hands handcuffed behind his back.
“Tell you what Perry. I can call you Perry, right?” Agent Pahlavi casually offered. “Why don’t I have Officer Boulder remove your temporary cuffs and cuff your hands in front of you... for now. It looks like your struggling has tightened them further and you’re now bleeding a little.”
She nodded to Boulder who glanced at Perry’s back. He could only see a couple of inches of his hands, but he did see that his wrists were indeed red and little prickles of blood were making the surface. Boulder gently touched under his arm and Perry stood and turned his back to Boulder so he could work the cuffs, and replace them with regular cuffs in front of him.
“Thank you.” Perry uttered, barely audible.
“You’re welcome. Now, let’s have a little conversation. Okay?” Pahlavi said in a soothing voice.
“Am I under arrest for something?” he said.
“Arrest? Why no, not at this time. We are just being cautious and would like to have a conversation with you. You are a little confusing to us. We thought you were in charge here at the airport. But whenever I looked for you to run some information by you, I couldn’t find you. Neither could your Port officers. Are you running from someone? Do you need protection?” She said, somewhat like a teacher would address a student who fell off the swing. “If you could let us know what you know, we can clear up this entire airport fiasco. Just start anywhere you like. I’m all ears.”
Perry looked at her in a leery way. His eyes darted left and right as he stared at the floor then finally spoke, “I am looking for two agents that appear to be involved in some type of espionage. For some reason, unknown to me, they talked about blowing up the fountain. I was merely trying to ascertain their motives when the officers mistook my motives as some kind of destructive plan. The pillar had markings on it, like someone had tried to carve it open. I was trying to figure it out so no one could access the large pipe that travels up that wall to the fountain in the common area.”
“I see,” Agent Pahlavi said as she pretended to agree while she wrote down a couple notes. “Are these the same people you came to warn us about earlier?”
He stumbled his words when he tried to answer. His hands were fidgeting in the cuffs, but he rested them in his lap to answer her, “I think, I mean, I know, that one of them is named Jahnni Dawson. First Class Air. Tricky that one. Has her manager fooled. And the other one is, well I don’t remember her name. But Jahnni is armed and plans to blow up the fountain, as I told the first group of officers. She told my security guard that she was going to blow it up and she had a device of some sort to do it remotely. Then they attacked him, hitting him in the skull with a heavy object. He barely got the information to me before the paramedics took him away to the hospital. I believe it is imperative that your FBI officers know that she must be immobilized as soon as they see her. Or they are at risk themselves of being shot. She is armed.”
“Ooooh, ya, that sounds bad. I wonder if you could tell me if this other agent was with her when she attacked your security guard. I would like to get a description and any other information about her,” Pahlavi said.
“Well, okay. I can do that. I gave their pictures to some officer’s earlier. It was the two of them. Yes, it was Jahnni and the other agent that attacked him,” Perry stated.
“Okay. Got it. So, no one else barged into your office to accost your security guard? It was just the two ladies? This Jahnni Dawson and the second one?” Agent Pahlavi asked gently while writing notes and nodding her head up and down.
“So, can I go now? I have a lot of work to do to take care of the airport in this crisis,” Perry asked.
“Go? Go where Perry? Where exactly would you like to go?” Agent Pahlavi asked as she tipped her head towards him.
He looked confused again and looked from Boulder to Pahlavi. “To do my job of course. What’s going on here? I have work to do. You need to let me go!”
“Excuse me for a moment, Mr. Prattle.” Agent Pahlavi motioned for another agent to come stay with Perry while she and Boulder went out in the hall.
“He’s lying,” she said. “Jahnni was with an older gentleman when Craigs and this other security guard strong armed them into an elevator in the bagwell. Hold him for now. Don’t place him under arrest just yet. But if he asks for an attorney, stall, but follow the law.”
Then she poked her head back into the room like she was peeking in on a toddler taking a nap. “Perry, I do have one more question if you don’t mind. Why did you say they are probably all dead? Who is probably dead? And how would they die?”
He looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. He took a breath, then waited. He talked to her without looking at her, “I didn’t tell you that. Are you trying to trick me?” He put his head down, and turned his face to the wall, away from where she was peeking into the room. He was done talking.
Chapter 37
Mission Accomplished
Mimi and Adrian were done repairing the breach in
the pipe that Perry had blown. They gathered up their underwater welding equipment, strapped it onto their backs and pushed off for the hatch a few feet down the pipe. The water looked dark but for their headlamps. Mission accomplished. They crawled up, out of the pipe and waited while their white waterproof suits dripped off. Underneath the suits, they were warm and dry. They dropped the Aquatic from their mouths and it fell at their necks, held securely by a neck band.
“Adrian, how do you feel?” Mimi asked as she removed her gloves.
He looked up after he shook his head like a dog after a dip and replied, “Great. You?”
“Well,” she answered, “I feel... I don’t know, kinda empty. We have been on this mission for almost two months and it is finally over. Oddest job we have ever done, no?”
“You got that right. Once we get out of here, I’ll change our flight reservations when we get to the hotel so we can fly out of Seattle. Zale said to just depart. Send him a report, and take off.” Then Adrian smiled before reiterating a previous point that they spoke about, “After we quit our airport jobs that is. With the current circumstances, I don’t think he will mind if we do it by voicemail and post.”
“Right, let’s access the outflow and float out of here. We can’t go back through the airport, so the shortcut will be just fine. Down this hallway?” She motioned to the olive-green hallway.
Adrian turned circles, getting his bearings. “Uh, ya. This will lead us back to the outflow. Ready honey?”
“I told you I would follow you anywhere, Addy! I made a vow,” Mimi answered with a loving look on her face. “I can’t wait to get back to Europe. I miss our daughter. The faster we get home, the better.”
After she walked a few feet, she turned and waited for him. Oh, and let’s not take another job for a while.” She reached up on her tip-toes and kissed him gently on the mouth. Not that it isn’t fun working with my husband, but we need a vacation. A family vacation. Paris?”
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