G.H.O.S.T. Teams: Book 1 - Magic (29 page)

The doctor nodded and hit a few buttons on a control panel. The table holding Dirk’s body started sliding through the opening of the donut and it slowed over his stomach. There was a loud clunking sound from the machine as the first few images started showing up on the monitors. Visine stared hard as image after image came across the screen. Something caught his eye and he yelled for the doc to stop. I didn’t see anything but Visine was pretty sure that there was something there. After hitting a few more buttons the doctor managed to find us a better angle and then I could see it, a small key.

“We need that key now,” Visine stated.

“Wheel him over to the next room and I can retrieve it,” the doctor said.

Visine and I collected Dirk’s body and wheeled it next door while the doctor used the images from the scanner to confirm exactly where he needed to cut. Since I didn’t even want to imagine what kinds of smells were going to emanate from the stomach of a man who had been dead for several days, I waited just outside of the operating room. The doctor worked quickly and Visine stepped out a couple of minutes later with the key on a metal tray. Fortunately he had cleaned it up before bringing it out here.

Since more heads were normally better than one, we examined the key in front of the team. It was fairly non-descript. There was a black plastic cap on the end that looked fairly worn. I didn’t know if it was because of stomach acid or years of use, but either way I could barely make out the letters S and A on the side. Visine turned towards Freddy.

“Did you learn how Dirk arrived in town?” Visine asked.

Freddy rifled through a few of the papers on the table next to him before selecting one. He looked it over for a second before the expression on his face let us know that he found the information we needed.

“Yes, he was aboard a flight from London Heathrow to Reagan National Airport. It was a United flight arriving at seven thirty five,” Freddy said.

“An airport locker maybe?” Visine asked the room.

“Do they even have lockers at airports anymore?” I asked.

“Most airports removed their lockers as a matter of security. In order to prevent them from being used as a hiding place for an explosive device. I cannot imagine that the airport of your Nation’s Capital would be an exception.” Freddy said.

“That sounds right,” I started, “Especially considering how overboard the TSA went….” I stopped myself.

Visine met my gaze as I looked up. He glanced down at the key and smiled. Apparently stomach acid liked to eat T’s. I decided to make sure that everyone else knew what we were thinking.

“It’s a TSA approved luggage key. So the clue must be in his luggage. What hotel was he staying at?” I asked.

Freddy shuffled through a few more pieces of paper before answering.

“His reservations were for the Double Tree Hotel in Rockville. The location was only a few blocks from Mr. Lazarus’s establishment. But according to hotel records, he failed to check in. It seems a fair assumption that Mr. Camalon was intercepted before he could leave the District,” Freddy said solemnly.

“Meaning that he probably had his luggage on him and the bad guys took it,” I sighed.

“Possibly,” Visine pondered.

“You think he hid the luggage somewhere,” Erika stated.

“If he knew he was being followed,” Visine smiled.

“Okay, so where did he stash it?” I asked.

“Somewhere between the airport and the Potomac river,” Kara said.

“Can you track it down magically?” I asked her.

“Not if he wanted to hide it,” Visine answered for her.

“So how come the bad guys didn’t find the key?” I questioned.

“Were they even looking for it?” Erika added.

“It seems likely that if they were looking for it, they would have found it. So perhaps they had no reason to inspect his possessions,” Freddy said.

“Because they already knew where you were,” Kara stated to Visine.

“Or at least where to start looking,” Erika said.

“Right. So if the bad guys weren’t looking for the bag then Dirk could have hidden it somewhere that we can easily find,” I said.

“And if he knew he was being followed,” Visine smiled.

“Then the best way to keep the bag off of their radar,” Kara smiled.

“Was to leave it in the airport,” Erika finished for us.

There were smiles around the room as we all saw the first signs that we might be able to work well as a team. After our rocky start it was nice to see a ray of hope. Even Freddy took the time to enjoy the moment before he started talking again.

“If a bag is simply left on the conveyer, the airlines will take possession of the item until they can contact the responsible party,” Freddy said.

“Then let’s contact the airline and…” I started before noticing Visine.

It was clear from his expression that he was concentrating on something. His eyes were darting back and forth as if he was reading some invisible document in the sky. I figured that he was using his nanites to blaze across the Internet and retrieve the information that we needed. A few seconds later he looked over at me and smiled.

“According to their computer logs, the bag was found and they still have it there,” Visine said.

“Then why are you two still standing here,” Dutton barked.

We all spun towards the sound of his voice to see Dutton leaning against the doorframe. He had a half-smoked cigar sticking out of his mouth and his usual grim expression on his face.

“We’ll contact the airline and handle the paperwork. You two get moving,” he ordered.
 

“Yes sir,” I said, giving my best mock salute.

Dutton moved out of the way to allow Visine and me to rush by. We flew up the stairs in record time. A moment later we were back in Vlad, screeching tires as we sped out of the parking garage.
 

We pulled up in front of the United Airlines baggage claim and jumped out of the car. I saw one of the airport cops just down the way so I flashed my badge in his direction as we ran inside. Whether he saw me or not I couldn’t tell. But worst case scenario, if they tried to tow Vlad he would just move out of the way or call me, yet another benefit to having a sentient car.

The baggage claim area was fairly busy and Visine and I had to dodge people and luggage carts on our way to the United office. There were two people in line and I stepped around them and approached the counter. I flashed my badge in their direction and apologized.

“Sorry folks, matter of national security,” I said before turning to the lady behind the counter, “We’re with the SIA, my office should have contacted you about holding a bag for us,” I said.

In a wonderful demonstration of her multitasking customer service skills, Jessica, as I read on her nametag, apologized to the people at the same time that she was picking up the phone.

“Just a moment please. Let me call my supervisor for you,” Jessica smiled.

She was a fairly attractive girl, probably in her early twenties. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and matched the color of her eyes. She had a medium frame and the types of curves that made pin-up girls popular in the fifties. As she talked on the phone she nodded her head every time that she answered her supervisor in the affirmative. After a brief conversation she hung up the phone.

“I apologize for the delay. My supervisor will be right with you,” she said.

“Thanks Jessica,” I replied.

It took a couple of minutes for her supervisor to show up and while I waited I couldn’t help but look out the glass front of the airport. I could see fading light of the setting sun. Benny thought that things were going down tonight and that could be anytime now. We were running out of time. At that point the lady whom I assume had been on the other end of the phone call stepped out of the back with a suitcase in hand.

She was a black woman, probably in her fifties, and she had a skinny athletic frame. A dark blue business suit framed her figure well and she stood almost as tall as me in her dark heels. A full head of white hair was trimmed close and short. Her dainty nose balanced a pair of red-framed glasses, a silver chain dangling from each side to allow them to hang around her neck. She had deep brown eyes and they instantly met my gaze.

We walked down to the far end of the counter, away from the other customers. She laid the suitcase down and looked over my badge to confirm that we were who we said we were. Once she verified my identity a warm smile found her face.

“All of the paperwork seems to be in order so I believe that this bag is yours. My name is Karen and please don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything else,” she smiled.

“Actually Karen, do you possibly have a place where we could look through the contents of this bag in private?”

She nodded, “Of course, right this way gentlemen,” a slight southern draw to her accent.

We followed her out of the office and just down the way to a door marked “Authorized Personnel Only”. She used a swipe card on the wall reader and the little red light went green. There was a click and she pulled the door open. Visine was carrying the bag and I held the door open for him as we both followed her in.

It was a small room, maybe fifteen feet square. There was a computer on the desk in the right corner and the walls were covered in motivational posters. Each one depicting a different aspect of customer service and providing tips on how to excel at it. The left corner of the room held a small filing cabinet and a few sealed boxes. Karen looked the room over as if making sure that it was acceptable before turning towards us.

“Will this do?” she asked.

“This will be fine, thank you.”

“I’ll give you two some privacy. Please holler if you need anything else,” she said.

“Thanks Karen,” I replied.

She maintained her warm professional smile as she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Once we were alone Visine pulled out the luggage key. The lock itself was a tiny thing and we could have easily broken it, but clearly there was something symbolic about opening the lock with key. After all it was the clue that brought us here. Laying the bag on its side Visine opened it up very slowly. Suspense hung heavily in the air as the lid was lifted to reveal what we assumed was the answer to our questions. Anticlimactically we saw a pile of Dirk’s clothes.

We both exhaled, neither of us realizing that we had been holding our breath. After making sure that there wasn’t anything in the suitcase that would shatter, we turned it upside down and dumped the contents onto the floor. I started going through the pile while Visine checked all of the little pockets in the suitcase itself.

I opened the shaving kit, sifted through everything and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. We checked inside of Dirk’s shoes, in his socks, and turned out all of the pockets in his clothes. Visine even tore out the suitcase liner to make sure that nothing was hidden inside. But after several minutes of frantic searching all we had was one destroyed suitcase and clothes scattered all over the floor. From what we could see, there was nothing other than the contents of a person who was planning a weeklong trip. I’d even broken the electric toothbrush in half to make sure there wasn’t anything hidden inside.

Remembering that Dirk liked puzzles, we checked every tag and label for patterns. Visine even looked at the numbers on the sticky tag that the airline put on the luggage. There was nothing weird about the tread on the bottom of the shoes or the designs of any of the clothes. I looked over at Visine.

“Why swallow the key if there wasn’t anything in here?”

“I don’t know,” Visine grimaced.

The room was silent as we both sat there staring at the bag in the vain hope that inspiration would strike. We would occasionally grab something at random and give it another look hoping to spot anything. I snapped the handle of Dirk’s razor in half, looking inside for a note. Visine tore the soles off of the shoes, twisting them in the light, searching for any writing. We even turned the lights off in the hope that something might glow in the dark. Mainly we felt like idiots. There had to be something here and we were overlooking it.

I picked up one of the pairs of jeans and turned the pockets out again. There was an ink stain halfway down in the left pocket. It was two uniform marks, one on each side of the pocket. There was nothing remarkable about them however, but just because it was bugging me I showed it to Visine.

He took the jeans from me and closely examined the stains. Twisting it at various angles to catch the light and see if anything more was revealed.
 

“I noticed a similar mark in another pair of pants. But I couldn’t discern anything from it. Are you seeing something?” He asked.

I shook my head. Turning the pocket from side to side Visine was looking at the two shapes. As one might expect from a leak being sandwiched together, the spots were uniform and almost identical. Then I saw his brow furrow as something occurred to him. He slid the pocket lining back inside so that he could see the image, as it would appear in the pants. He was shifting the pocket back and forth, clearly lining something up. A wide smile crossed his face as he showed it to me.

“Is that a…” I started.

“Y,” he finished.

“Right. Or are we so desperate to find a clue that we’re letting our minds play the Rorschach test?”

“One way to be sure,” he smiled.

We each grabbed a pair of pants and found similar stains in the pockets. It was definitely easier for me to work as Visine still had one hand in a sling. I discovered the next possible letter first.

“I think this is an L.”

Visine twisted his back and forth to make sure he was seeing it correctly as I grabbed the final pair of pants. I started twisting the final stain as Visine showed me the letter he found.

“E,” he said.

A few more twists and I had the last one.

“And an A here.”

We quickly double-checked every other piece of clothing to make sure that there weren’t any more magic ink stains. But the four pairs of pants were the only things that appeared to contain a clue. I sighed and looked back up at Visine.