stamped C LASSIFIED cluttered her desk. Just a thin, sleek computer, a tablet, a flat-screen television on the wall, and an STE—or Secure Terminal Equipment—desk phone for encrypted calls.
“I got a briefing from Hopper an hour ago,” Kera began, opening the detectiv e’s e-mail on her tablet. “NYPD is classifying this as a missing person, possible abduction. They collected prints, hair, and fabric samples from Rowena Pet e’s town house. Forensics all came back negative for an intruder. No demand for a ransom—so far. And no other sign of foul play.” Kera looked up from the e-mail she was summarizing aloud. “Except, of course, for the missing woman.”
Gabby leaned forward and put her elbows on the desk, tenting her hands in front of her mouth. She seemed to be thinking for a moment. Then she smiled. “I t’s much stranger than that. Come on. Ther e’s something I want to show you.”
Kera followed her boss into the hallway. They walked past Director Branag h’s office and then continued on, traveling a quarter of the way around the floor. It was n’t until Gabby slowed to make the left-hand turn down a short side hallway that Kera understood where they were going. At the unmarked entrance to the Control Room, Gabby stopped and gestured for Kera to step in front of the retinal scanner. Kera flashed Gabby a quizzical glance, but then she did as ordered and stood, unblinking, while the scanner matched her retina with her identity and security clearance. The scan was followed by a soft beep. She jerked her head back and looked at the adjacent screen, confused. It said:
K ERA M ERSAL, A GENT
C LEARANCE LEVEL: TS / SCI - UNIVINT
P LEASE WAVE ID CARD FOR ENTRY.
Kera looked at Gabby.
“Well, try it,” Gabby said.
Kera waved her badge over the card reader. When she did, she heard a dull click within the heavy door. The screen displayed a new message: A UTHENTICATION CONFIRMED. T HANK YOU. H AVE A NICE DAY.
Kera stood dumbstruck as Gabby submitted her own retinas for scrutiny and waved her badge.
“Congratulations, Agent Mersal,” she said, holding the door for Kera as they entered. Kera started to say thank you, but it came out as only a whisper. She was already looking past Gabby into the windowless room beyond.
The Control Room was a galaxy of screens. Overhead lights had been dimmed to make the environment ideal for viewing digital images. Men and women sat at multiconsole workstations in the semidarkness, pale light from the monitors washing over their faces. Directly ahead, the front wall was dominated by a massive tactical display—a large screen flanked on either side by columns of smaller screens. Above these, a row of digital clocks ticked off the local time in cities around the globe. At the front of the room beneath the main tactical display was a shallow pit where a half-dozen people huddled in discussion around a sprawling command station. Their heads shifted in unison, tilting up at the big screen and then back down at the monitors and touch screens in front of them.
Gabby led Kera to a pair of semicircle workstations that sat on a plateau overlooking the rest of the room.
“Wait here,” she said.
Kera watched Gabby go down to the pit at the front of the room and get the attention of a man who was leaning over an analys t’s workstation and gesturing about something on one of the screens. Gabby exchanged a few words with the man, who glanced up at Kera and nodded. Then he went back to what h e’d been doing.
Kera studied the big screen. It displayed a giant map that spanned from East Asia, across the Americas and Europe, to the Middle East as far as Saudi Arabia. Color-coded dots marked a handful of geographic locations. She could n’t begin to guess what the map or the dots were meant to illustrate, and she was too far away to overhear the discussion in the pit.
After a few minutes, Gabby approached with the man sh e’d been talking to.
“This is J. D. Jones,”
“I got a briefing from Hopper an hour ago,” Kera began, opening the detectiv e’s e-mail on her tablet. “NYPD is classifying this as a missing person, possible abduction. They collected prints, hair, and fabric samples from Rowena Pet e’s town house. Forensics all came back negative for an intruder. No demand for a ransom—so far. And no other sign of foul play.” Kera looked up from the e-mail she was summarizing aloud. “Except, of course, for the missing woman.”
Gabby leaned forward and put her elbows on the desk, tenting her hands in front of her mouth. She seemed to be thinking for a moment. Then she smiled. “I t’s much stranger than that. Come on. Ther e’s something I want to show you.”
Kera followed her boss into the hallway. They walked past Director Branag h’s office and then continued on, traveling a quarter of the way around the floor. It was n’t until Gabby slowed to make the left-hand turn down a short side hallway that Kera understood where they were going. At the unmarked entrance to the Control Room, Gabby stopped and gestured for Kera to step in front of the retinal scanner. Kera flashed Gabby a quizzical glance, but then she did as ordered and stood, unblinking, while the scanner matched her retina with her identity and security clearance. The scan was followed by a soft beep. She jerked her head back and looked at the adjacent screen, confused. It said:
K ERA M ERSAL, A GENT
C LEARANCE LEVEL: TS / SCI - UNIVINT
P LEASE WAVE ID CARD FOR ENTRY.
Kera looked at Gabby.
“Well, try it,” Gabby said.
Kera waved her badge over the card reader. When she did, she heard a dull click within the heavy door. The screen displayed a new message: A UTHENTICATION CONFIRMED. T HANK YOU. H AVE A NICE DAY.
Kera stood dumbstruck as Gabby submitted her own retinas for scrutiny and waved her badge.
“Congratulations, Agent Mersal,” she said, holding the door for Kera as they entered. Kera started to say thank you, but it came out as only a whisper. She was already looking past Gabby into the windowless room beyond.
The Control Room was a galaxy of screens. Overhead lights had been dimmed to make the environment ideal for viewing digital images. Men and women sat at multiconsole workstations in the semidarkness, pale light from the monitors washing over their faces. Directly ahead, the front wall was dominated by a massive tactical display—a large screen flanked on either side by columns of smaller screens. Above these, a row of digital clocks ticked off the local time in cities around the globe. At the front of the room beneath the main tactical display was a shallow pit where a half-dozen people huddled in discussion around a sprawling command station. Their heads shifted in unison, tilting up at the big screen and then back down at the monitors and touch screens in front of them.
Gabby led Kera to a pair of semicircle workstations that sat on a plateau overlooking the rest of the room.
“Wait here,” she said.
Kera watched Gabby go down to the pit at the front of the room and get the attention of a man who was leaning over an analys t’s workstation and gesturing about something on one of the screens. Gabby exchanged a few words with the man, who glanced up at Kera and nodded. Then he went back to what h e’d been doing.
Kera studied the big screen. It displayed a giant map that spanned from East Asia, across the Americas and Europe, to the Middle East as far as Saudi Arabia. Color-coded dots marked a handful of geographic locations. She could n’t begin to guess what the map or the dots were meant to illustrate, and she was too far away to overhear the discussion in the pit.
After a few minutes, Gabby approached with the man sh e’d been talking to.
“This is J. D. Jones,”
Similar Books
