away to answer it, knowing it was Zero Command by the caller ID on the screen.
* * *
“FROM ALL THE bodies here,” Zeigler said, “I figure you people have a lot to deal with.”
“Nothing gets by you, Detective Zeigler,” Brandon said.
Zeigler grinned. “So smart, so young, so full of bullshit. Nothing you can tell me. Yeah, I know.”
Valens rejoined them.
“If anything comes up that I can tell you,” she said, “I will pass it on, Jerry. Right now I have a missing VIP and it’s my job to get him back. You have problems with that, you can talk to Colonel Corrigan at the base. Best I can do.”
Zeigler felt the frustration rising as he eyed Valens. She didn’t lose a beat and the cop knew she wouldn’t give anything away even if they stood there all day.
Goddamn it, he thought, all this need-to-know crap is killing me.
He let out the breath he’d been holding and managed a strained smile.
“Okay, Agent Valens, you win. Just remember I’m not one of the bad guys. Just doing—trying to do my job.” He turned and made his way to where his police cruiser sat waiting.
* * *
“I DON’T ENJOY freezing the local cops out,” Valens said. “Zeigler has it right. He just wants to do what he’s paid for. And all we do is put up a solid wall and stall him.”
“Your call? Anything important I should know about?”
“That was Colonel Corrigan on the phone. It appears we have a specialist team joining us back at base,” Valens said.
She noted Brandon’s frown. “What specialists?”
“An undercover group—and that’s all you need to know—from the covert agency involved when the original Zero problem occurred. Larry, we need all the help we can get on this. I don’t have any problem accepting that.”
“If you say so. You are the boss.”
“Yes, I am,” Valens said. “So no sulking over this.”
“Moi? Sulk? And here I thought you knew me better than that, Agent Valens.”
“I know you hate bullshit as much as I do. I prefer having stuff out in the open but we have to follow the ground rules. So let’s wind it up and get back to base. I don’t think we’ll be any use here any longer. Let the investigative team do their thing. Something tells me they’re not going to find anything.”
“Yeah. Hey, these covert operators don’t all wear tights and masks and fly around in invisible planes, by any chance?”
“Sometimes I wish we had some of those guys,” Valens said. “Might make our job a damn sight easier.”
“I wouldn’t look good in tights,” Brandon retorted. “You, on the other hand...”
“Do not go there, Larry.”
Walking ahead, Brandon grinned like a schoolboy.
* * *
BACK IN THE CAR, Brandon took the wheel while Valens made a call to their department chief. Brandon was not deliberately listening but couldn’t help picking up the reference she made to a Jui Kai. All Brandon knew about the young Chinese woman was that she was on a long-term undercover assignment in China. Valens took occasional messages from their chief but said little to him about it. Brandon, understanding she was not prepared to discuss the matter, didn’t question her.
Claire Valens was a determined woman with strong opinions about her work, and she held unshakable feelings, most notably the one that resurfaced every so often; Valens was convinced, as she had been for a long time, that the Chinese hadnot forgotten about Zero. It was as close to a conspiracy theory as any belief Valens held. It seemed to be there in the background, a vaporous image that Valens could not—perhaps would not— shake off. And the fact Jui Kai was working the China beat backed up Valens’s suspicions. Her assignment at Zero Command occupied her day-to-day business and this out-of-left-field move and the disappearance of Saul Kaplan would have been a blow to her pride. It would only strengthen her resolve to stay with her theory.
Familiarity with the situation may have been partly to blame, even though Valens would take it badly. The protocols in place had been working well. Kaplan was delivered to the AF base and returned home each evening— unless some urgent matter arose with Zero. It had become the norm. Perhaps too much so. The delivery of Kaplan to the base, a routine that had been smooth and undisturbed, had become an accepted ritual. The route changed daily, allowing for some flexibility, and operated with clockwork efficiency. Valens was charged with on-base security, the Air Force with the actual fetching and carrying of the man who was responsible for the oversight of the Zero Platform’s daily routines.
Over the preceding months, the ongoing routine never varied. Kaplan in. Work done. Kaplan home. A hard routine. It was as set as the ticking of a clock. Checks were made on timing and routes. The Air Force maintained a tight schedule for the daily trip—which was the reason Kaplan’s absence was picked up so soon after the event.
Even so, Kaplan was gone.
Where, no one knew.
The why was a little easier to work out.
The man carried knowledge of the operation and the know-how about Zero.
The platform was up and running, monitored day and night.
Kaplan’s imaginative dream had become a working reality, giving America a unique piece of hardware.
Everyone at Zero Command would know with all certainty why Kaplan had been taken.
A deliberate attempt at gaining a hold over Zero’s creator and possibly an outright and hostile try for the platform itself.
That seemed to have been the easy part.
The hard part—getting him back alive and well—was something else.
* * *
WHOEVER WAS BEHIND the kidnapping had upfront knowledge. The AF vehicle had been fitted with a tracking device that had gone off-line. And Kaplan himself had an implanted signal tracker that was supposed to show his whereabouts. It was not transmitting, either. The snatch had been well planned. The disabling of the trackers only highlighted how well organized the kidnappers had been.
Claire Valens took note of these items. It concerned her that somewhere, someone had gained such knowledge and used it against Zero.
She was unable to stop wondering what came next.
Valens felt her thoughts turning toward Major Doug Buchanan, the man who controlled Zero’s 24/7 functions through his command position. Buchanan would not be happy when he learned about Kaplan’s kidnapping. Buchanan had an abiding faith in the man. There was more than the simple dependency that Buchanan had with Kaplan. He had become so tied in with Zero’s creator the bond was as strong as Buchanan’s with his biocouch. Maybe even stronger.
Buchanan,
