by Jan Coffey
He continued on, giving the other agents other specific areas of research, too. It was a long shot, but they had to try.
“Also,” he said as another thought occurred to him. “Contact the shipping department at each campus. If there is a central administrator, talk to him or her. Get someone in charge, preferably the person who negotiates the rates with the freight carriers. There must be a way that they can charge the expense of each package shipped to a specific department, if not an individual.”
“You don’t think the Business Division knows what they’re talking about?”
Hank shrugged. “My wife is an academic. I’m pretty familiar with how these university systems work their expenses. I’m sure there are unmonitored account numbers, but for the most part, there has to be a column for almost everything that goes out of there. For some of those administrators, bean counting is part of their existence.”
~~~~
Chapter 30
Buffalo, New York
Nick Luna was one of those people who might have the potential to grow on you, but at this stage in his life he just rubbed most people the wrong way.
Looking down at him now, Bryan decided that the agent was extremely smart, but too damn young. It could go either way for Luna. He could piss off the wrong person and end up watching a monitor for potential terrorists at the Hoover Dam for the next twenty years or so. Or, he could get over the cockiness that was part of youth and learn how to deal with people.
Not that he himself had done too well in that department, but at least he’d been lucky. Luna made himself too visible to be lucky.
Bryan had no complaints with the way the long-haired kid treated him. For some reason, he treated Bryan with the utmost respect. Still, he managed to tick off everyone else. And even when he was trying to scramble after screwing something up, he just seemed to have a penchant for messing things up more.
A perfect example of that had to do with Lexi. Bryan didn’t know what happened between these two back at the hospital in New Haven, but she’d bristled just seeing him as he came down to meet them at the hospital Security Office. Bryan decided the young man may have intended to make peace with her, but what he did instead was to tell her how much time she could have with her son and how she had to hurry since he’d been instructed to see that she and Bryan stayed on schedule for Reno. Basically, he’d tried ordering her around. In the end, Lexi had stalked off beside an FBI agent from the Buffalo Field Office to see Juan and talk to Dr. Dexter, while Bryan had stayed behind to listen to whatever urgent thing that Luna still had to tell him.
“There was a breech in security here at the hospital earlier this afternoon,” the young agent told him as soon as Lexi was out of earshot.
Christ. Juan was supposed to be safe here. “Did they get to Dr. Bradley’s son?”
“No. We’re certain about that,” Luna said unequivocally. “First, the IT department, just by chance, caught someone trying to hack into their system for Juan’s medical files.”
“Could they trace the hackers id?”
“No. The connection was cut before they could trace it. They were definitely pros.”
“We knew that before.”
“Two other incidents occurred as well.”
“Busy day,” Bryan said grimly.
“There was a clean break-in at the pharmacy. One of the orderlies spotted the damaged door.”
“So they didn’t catch anyone, I take it.”
“No. The local police came in and did their thing.”
“Do they know what was taken?” Bryan asked.
“They’re doing an inventory check now.”
Bryan shook his head. “What was the second thing?”
“Surveillance cameras picked up two unauthorized persons in one of the food prep areas. No sign of the intruders by the time security reached it.”
“Did you send the images to Headquarters in Washington?”
“Yeah, just before you got here.”
“Juan isn’t safe here,” Bryan said, pissed off. “What else is being done about all this?”
“The Administrator has brought in more personnel and beefed up security for the entire hospital. Only authorized persons, escorted by one of our own agents, are being allowed to step foot on that floor. No medications are being disbursed from this hospital’s pharmacy to Juan. Also, there will be no food delivered from the kitchen for any of the staff for the couple of hours we have remaining here.”
“What do you mean ‘the couple of hours we have remaining’?”
“Dr. Dexter is transferring Juan to the medical center at Cornell,” Luna told him. “There is equipment he needs that’s available there.”
“Have you talked to Geary about that?”
“I have talked to him, and I was told he already knew about it. Our people are doing a security sweep of the place right now. Supposedly the only patients on one floor at that clinic will be Juan and the three other teenagers, when they’re found.”
Bryan nodded, considering Luna’s final statement. He didn’t know what legal angle Geary would use to collect the other kids that were still out there. But that was his problem. This Dexter guy seemed to be the man with the answers, as far as the U.S. Government was concerned.
“Who knows about the move?” Bryan asked. “We don’t want to give the people who are after Juan to get another shot at him.”
“The SAC agrees completely. The move is being kept on the down low. There will be no briefings beyond the requisite personnel as far as the change in location and the time of Juan’s transfer. And I was directed to inform you, Dr. Bradley is not to be apprised of any of the details of the move.”
They’d better find something in Reno tonight to help conclude this case, Bryan thought, because he already knew Lexi wouldn’t put up with not knowing where her son was. By tomorrow, when they were finished in Nevada, Bryan figured he’d fight that battle with Geary and whoever else he needed to. As far as he was concerned, Lexi would be taken to where Juan was being hospitalized.
“We’re also going to keep the beefed up main floor security in place and Juan Bradley’s files intact at this hospital, as if he were still here. We’ll make sure the records show the room and bed are still occupied. We’ll even maintain the security detail on the floor.”
“That makes perfect sense,” Bryan said. “What’s being done about the transportation?”
“We’ll take him out through the emergency room exit. An ambulance will arrive under the pretence of bringing in a patient. In reality, they’ll be here to leave with Juan. There will be no fanfare when the ambulance leaves.”
“How about security? Protection for the kid along the way?”
“We’ve planned a decoy and a convoy of unmarked vehicles to serve as escort for the ambulance.”
Bryan had been in this line of business long enough to know the decoy was used with regular success. It was standard procedure for the Secret Service to use the same tactic in moving the President or the Vice President or any number of visiting dignitaries from other countries from one location to another.
He asked a few more questions about the number of agents involved and the security at the medical center once Juan was taken there.
By the time Bryan left Nick downstairs and headed for the floor where Juan was, he felt very confident that FBI had everything under control. But at the same time, he was glad that he didn’t have to tell Lexi anything about it right now. She wasn’t familiar with the clockwork precision with which these people worked. Knowing Juan was being moved would only add stress that she didn’t need.
Bryan had to go through the same security check points as anyone else when he arrived on the floor. There was only a skeleton group of medical professionals around. For every one of those; there were at least two federal agents.
He was informed that Dr. Bradley and Dr. Dexter were at Juan’s bedside. Bryan was escorted to the door of the teenager’s room. The nurses’ station sat directly across the
hall. A huge plate glass window separated the patient’s room from the hallway. There was no way anyone could walk in there without being seen.
Bryan saw Lexi and an older man talking by Juan’s bed. Lexi held her son’s hand.
The story she’d told him about her past wouldn’t leave him. He’d been impressed and attracted to her before. But what she’d gone through and what she’d done about it, made her so much more special.
In the light of tragedy and disappointment, she’d made a new life, created a family. Bryan, on the other hand, hadn’t been able to dig out from under tragedy. He’d destroyed his marriage, broken up his family. He remembered the call from Amy this morning. One of the only bright spots in his life was that his daughters still wanted to have anything to do with him.
Lexi turned around and saw him and motioned for Bryan to come inside. He walked in.
There was no life support system, only a brain activity monitor along with the standard monitors keeping track of the boy’s vital signs. If it weren’t for the IV in one arm, anyone could think that the teenager was just sleeping. Bryan realized he’d seen many pictures, but this was the first time he was seeing Juan in person.
He was tall, thin and gangly, the way so many teenagers his age were. His face was young and innocent. No facial hair, no piercings, no visible tattoos. He was just a good looking kid with straight dark brown hair combed off his forehead.
As Bryan looked at the boy, images of another city, another hospital room, a different fifteen-year-old lying unconscious on the hospital bed flashed before his eyes.
His brother Bobby.
Bryan had sat next to him, holding his cold hand, trying somehow to understand. He couldn’t. But it was more than the inability to understand, it was the inability to forgive himself that tore at Bryan so badly. He should have seen it. This was his line of work. If he’d paid more attention…
“Agent Atwood,” Lexi said, softly drawing his attention. She looked at him for the longest moment, her eyes riveted to his. Bryan felt she was reaching into his soul. She was seeing his struggle, the mourning that he’d never finished. He’d left the door to his heart open. The cuts were deep and bleeding once again. Or rather…still.
“I’m Orin Dexter,” the older man said, shaking Bryan’s hand.
The reality of their surroundings shuffled everything into focus.
“How’s our young patient doing?” Bryan asked.
Dexter matched the caricatured image of a scientist. Curly, uncombed blond hair, thick glasses, a beak for a nose, half a dozen pens and handheld electronic devices protruding from the sagging pocket of his somewhat ragged, blue oxford shirt. Some time in the past five or ten years, a pen had leaked ink from that pocket, leaving a blue egg-shaped stain. Bryan guessed that Dexter probably never noticed the stain, but still missed the pen. The worn boat shoes with the deteriorating stitching at the toe of his left shoe completed the picture.
“I was just telling…uh, Lexi, isn’t it? yes, Lexi…that I think Juan is progressing quite well. He’s having normal pupil reaction to light. I find that very encouraging. Of course, there are a number of tests that we have to run, yet. We’ll start with a SPECT Scan to see if there are abnormalities in cerebral blood flow. But my guess is that whatever is there, we can take care of it.”
Lexi asked a couple of questions about the possible reasons for the coma. Dexter answered each one with the same tone of positive enthusiasm. Nothing was impossible.
Dexter appeared to be on top of the world. Bryan could understand it. From what he’d learned during his phone calls to Geary, this guy was the foremost expert in nanotechnology, and finding Juan presented him with the possibility of studying the radical application of what the scientific community thought had been, at that time, only theoretically possible. This was a great opportunity for him.
But Geary had told Bryan that Dexter was one of those academics who believed scientific discoveries belonged to the world, not just to a group of businessmen who are willing to fund research for their own potential profit. And not just to governments who might want to use them for their own purposes. That made Dexter a bit of a renegade. Somewhere in Ithaca, Bryan supposed, there was an unkempt, practically unused apartment filled with unpacked moving boxes and a dusty stereo with a Peter Frampton album on the turntable.
Still, Dexter was not above taking the money of either American corporations or the U.S. Government to fund his research. Finding Juan and being allowed to work on him meant that trucks of cash would be backing up to the loading dock of his lab at Cornell. Dexter would capitalize on the efforts—unethical as they were—of the anonymous scientists who started this disaster in motion fifteen years ago.
Thinking of screwed-up scientists made Bryan glance at his watch. The time they’d been here at the hospital was slipping past.
Lexi turned to Dexter. “So is there a way that you can contact me if there are any changes in Juan over the next twenty-four hours?”
“Of course. If there are any changes, I’ll have that other agent get hold of you.”
“Can I have a few more minutes with him?” she asked both men.
They nodded. Dexter started out, and Bryan watched Lexi run her fingers over Juan’s brow. She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek, whispering something in his ear.
Watching them, Bryan found himself hovering once again on the dangerous edge of another earlier time. Old and painful memories were burning through to the surface.
Bryan turned and joined Dexter in the hallway. They stood there watching the mother and son.
“What’s his real prognosis?” Bryan asked.
“Will he live? Yes. For how long? Who knows? And if he comes out of the coma, will he have his full range of physical abilities?” He nodded hesitantly. “Maybe.”
“He’s come out of the coma once…”
“Yes, that’s a good sign. And he is responding in very hopeful ways.”
“Assuming he comes out of the coma, what condition will he be in?”
“If you mean, what will be the condition of his intelligence or memory, there’s no way to know,” The doctor told him. “That’s definitely uncharted territory. I don’t know if the damage done is reversible or not.”
“You’re talking about those artificial strands that showed up in the MRI.”
“Yes,” Dexter replied, his face brightening. “We’re moving him to Cornell to prepare for the exploratory surgery that is necessary to figure that out.”
“You’re not going to do any surgery until Dr. Bradley returns,” Bryan said, trying to keep his tone even.
“There are a number of tests we need to do before any operation,” the scientist said. He turned to Bryan with raised eyebrow. “I didn’t know the mother was being brought back to Ithaca.”
“Dr. Bradley continues to be an invaluable part of an ongoing investigation. The least we can do is to respect the mother’s rights, don’t you think?”
Dexter nodded. He didn’t seem to have a problem with that, but that was clearly not a priority for him.
Bryan remembered what he’d promised Lexi regarding her concern about any charges that might be made against Juan. Excusing himself, he moved to the end of the hall and called Geary, laying out Lexi’s request. In passing on her conditions when it came to Juan’s legal situation and what she was doing tonight to help the investigation, Bryan reiterated his position that he still thought it was wrong to involve her in a potentially dangerous situation.
As he’d expected, Geary had no problem with any of her concerns. There was clearly a medical situation involved in Juan Bradley’s mental state, and there was little chance of legal action as a result of the shooting. But the FBI SAC told Bryan that the decision had been made to use her in this one situation, and that it was Bryan’s job to make sure that she was protected. Other agents and law enforcement personnel in Nevada would be standing by to assist him.
Geary also told him they’d located one of the three remaining te
enagers on the list. Hank was flying to California to interview him. The other two were still MIA.
As Bryan hung up on Geary, Lexi came out of Juan’s room. They walked together to the elevators. While they waited for the doors to open, he looked into her flushed face. Her blue eyes were shining; it was obvious she was fighting to hold back tears.
“There’s still plenty of time to change your mind,” he told her. “You don’t have to go to Reno.”
She shook her head. “What is it? You don’t have faith in me, Agent Atwood?”
She stepped into the empty elevator ahead of him. They’d descended only one floor when Bryan saw her stab away at a tear. He put a hand around her shoulder and pulled her to him.
To his surprise, she pressed her face against his chest and began to sob in earnest.
~~~~
Chapter 31
Thursday January 17, 9:20 p.m.
New York City
That arrogant sonovabitch, Bryan Atwood, had complained about problems with communication in this investigation. Even though Geary had only been telling Atwood what was essential, he had to admit that the bastard was right, to some extent.
It was defensible, though, Geary thought. This investigation involved highly sensitive information, and the damn thing was moving at rocket speed. Even now, when he wanted to meet with them, most of those involved in the case were on the move. Only nine agents were available for this meeting, either in person or via conference call. Well, the rest of them would get their briefing as soon as they reached their destination. And if that wasn’t good enough for Atwood, then it was just too damn bad.
As he moved through the rabbit warren of cubicles, he forced himself to focus on what was happening. There had been no new reports of school shootings since this morning, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t going to happen again.