The Agent's Daughter (18 page)

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.

After the visit to the hospital, Evan felt
better about Melina driving, so he agreed to let her drive home.
Melina was enjoying the drive and was excited to be driving on a
freeway for the first time.

“
So, there is some trouble
with that boy?” Evan asked.

“
He is not
that boy
,” Melina said.
“His name is Alex. And no, I am not having a problem. I merely saw
that he appeared to be having lunch with another girl from school.
That’s all. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“
Sounds like trouble,”
Evan said.

“
Yes, she is,” Melina
sighed.

“
Watch out, kiddo,” Evan
said. “The traffic is starting to slow down. Must be an accident
ahead. Just keep your distance from the car in front of
you.”

After a few more minutes, the traffic on the
freeway ground to a complete halt.

“
We are totally stopped,”
Melina said. “What should I do?”

“
The same thing as
everybody else,” Evan said. “Just sit and wait. When traffic is
completely stopped like this, it usually means that the accident
was severe enough that the police had to close the freeway. We are
going to be here a while.”

Melina looked out the windows around her.
The car was surrounded by other cars that were also not moving.

“
You can put the car
in
Park
if you
want,” Evan said.

Just then, the muffled sounds of idling
vehicles were drowned out by a cell phone ringing. It was Evan’s.
He took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. It
was Arthur Glass calling.

“
Hello Arthur,” he said as
he answered.

“
Evan. I need you to come
into work immediately. There has been a … development since our
meeting this morning.”

“
I would be about a half
an hour away from there, but right now we are over on I-35. There
has been an accident ahead of us, so the whole freeway is closed.
We are surrounded by other cars, and we aren’t going
anywhere.”

“
We? Are you still with
your daughter?”

“
That would be
affirmative.”

“
Time is critical, Evan. I
am dispatching someone to come and pick you up. I understand that
your daughter is not aware. Is that a problem?”

“
I’ll try to explain it as
best I can.”

“
Very well. Is the GPS
transponder in your watch active?” Arthur asked.

Evan laughed. “I’m an agent. It’s always
on.”

“
Okay, our crew shall be
there shortly. Goodbye.”

“
Who was that on the
phone, Daddy?” Melina said.

Evan had to think of an explanation
fast.

“
That was my boss. A virus
has attacked some of my code, and automated tellers all over the
state are shutting down because of it. I have to go back in to work
to try to fix it. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to take you
home, so you will have to come with me.”

Melina looked at her dad with a cold stare.
“We have to go to your work?”

“
Don’t worry. I know it
has been a long day, and you just want to get home, but we will
only be there a few hours. I promise. There is another thing,
though. The situation at work can’t wait for us to break free of
this traffic, so they are sending someone to get us. Don’t be
alarmed when they arrive.”

“
Coming to get us? What,
are they sending a cop car or something like that?”

“
Something like that. When
we get to my work, you can hang out in my office while I’m in the
software lab and then we will go straight home.”

“
Okay, Daddy.”

They sat in silence for a while as Melina
looked around at the other drivers that now were getting out of
their cars and standing on their toes to get a better look at the
situation. This was not the fun drive that she had imagined.

Evan heard the noise first, and he listened
for the direction that the sound was coming from. It started out as
a faint humming noise, but it quickly became unusually loud.

“
What on earth is that
noise?” Melina said.

Evan looked out the passenger window as a
helicopter hovered over the shoulder of the freeway twenty yards
from the car. It turned slightly to align itself with the emergency
lane pavement and came to a rest on the ground, the main rotor
blades never slowing down. A man got out of the helicopter and ran
toward them.

“
Our ride is here,” Evan
said as he turned to Melina.

“
Our what?” Melina said
loudly.

Evan got out of the car, ran over to
Melina’s door, and opened it. She still had her hands on the wheel
and looked up at him with a look of utter bewilderment.

“
Leave the keys in the car
and let’s go.”

Evan took Melina’s hand and held it tight as
she got out. Just then, the man from the helicopter ran up to
them.

“
Keys are still in the
car, Chris,” Evan said.

“
I’ll put it in your space
over in the parking garage,” Chris said.

Evan gently pulled on Melina’s hand and
coaxed her into a half-run toward the helicopter. He opened the
side door and helped Melina into a seat.

“
Hey Devon,” Evan said to
the pilot as he climbed in. “This is my daughter, Melina. It’s her
first time. Take it easy.”

Melina settled into her seat and looked over
at her dad with a wild-eyed expression that was at once
exhilaration and confusion. The noise increased as the helicopter
lifted off the ground and headed toward downtown.

Once they were under way, Melina did not ask
any more questions about why they were in a helicopter. Evan was
grateful as he did not like lying to her. She spent the duration of
the trip as most people do when they take their first helicopter
ride, looking out the window and calling out each thing on the
ground that they recognize. The trip to downtown was short, and the
helicopter touched down on a helipad on the top of the parking
garage next to the agency building. Once on the ground, the pilot
cut the power to the engine, and it changed pitch as it slowly
began to wind down.

Melina was still looking out the window when
she felt her dad’s hand on her shoulder. “Okay, kiddo. It’s time to
go.”

Evan opened the helicopter door and got out.
He helped Melina out, and the two of them headed for the parking
garage stairs. After walking down four flights, they entered a door
into the agency building at the lobby level.

“
Why is there a line of
people over there?” Melina asked as they walked across the
lobby.

“
That is the security
checkpoint,” Evan said. “You know, just like at the airport.
X-rays, empty your pockets, cavity search, etcetera.”

Melina stared at the line and began to slow
down until she came to a complete stop. Evan didn’t notice. He kept
right on walking until he found that he was alone. He turned around
and walked back to Melina.

“
Something wrong?” he
asked as he approached.

“
I... I... have to go to
the bathroom,” she said, still looking toward the security line and
not at her dad.

“
Can you wait until we get
to my office?” Evan asked.

Melina shook her head.

“
There is a restroom over
here,” Evan said as he began to walk toward it. Melina followed
closely behind. He glanced down at his watch as they walked. He
needed to go to the meeting right away, but his daughter had to use
the restroom, and that came first.

Evan walked with her right up to the door.
“I will be right outside.”

It was an old habit. Him telling Melina that
he was right outside. When she was much younger, she finally
reached a point where she no longer could go into the men’s
restroom with her dad. He never felt comfortable letting her go
into the restroom by herself, but there was no alternative when
Laura was not with them. He would station himself just outside the
door and scrutinize each woman that went inside. If he felt that
she was taking a little longer than expected, he would crack open
the door a little, and yell into the room to ask her if everything
were okay. It never came to it that her dad had to burst into the
restroom and get her out, but he was always prepared to do it just
the same.

After a few minutes, Melina emerged.
“Everything is fine now,” she said.

They continued their walk through the lobby,
passing the end of the line of people and walking up to a counter
next to the front of the line. As they approached, Evan took out
his agency badge and showed it to the man behind the counter.

The man lifted his arm and waved them
through. Evan never broke stride as he continued walking past the
counter. Melina fell a little behind as she paused for a moment at
the counter, thinking they had to stop.

“
Don’t we have to go
through the security screening?” Melina asked as she caught up to
her dad.

Evan chuckled. “Uh… no.”

…………………………
.

The meeting was already underway when Evan
got to the main video conference room. The lights were off and the
light emitted by the video screen showing the President in her
office was the only illumination. She was engaged in a one-on-one
conversation with William Mason. Evan could see Arthur through the
semi darkness, but he did not see David. He took a seat next to
Arthur.

Arthur leaned over to Evan and whispered,
“Sorry to call you back in here while you were with your
daughter.”

“
That’s okay, Arthur,”
Evan replied. “She thought the helicopter ride was impressive, and
I have her set up with the computer in my office. She’s logged into
some online social networking site that she likes.”

“
You haven’t missed much.
The President did not want to begin the meeting until you got here,
so she has been going over some logistical items related to the
situation with William. The tools group will have to support the
Department of Defense in the region going forward. ”

“
Evan is here now, Madam
President,” Arthur said to the video screen.

“
Howdy, ma’am,” Evan
followed.

“
Thank you for coming,
dear,” she said. “Since our earlier meeting, the satellite
reconnaissance team has detected increased activity in and around
the nuclear site in Malazistan.”

“
What is the nature of
this activity?” William said.

“
You name it,” the
President said. “Cars, trucks and helicopters have been coming into
and leaving the base in droves. There have been large containers
moved between buildings, and defensive positions are being
established around the perimeter of the base.”

“
Sounds like Evan’s visit
has lit a fire under them,” Arthur chuckled.

“
That is what we were
thinking,” the President said. “It’s clear that they no longer
believe they have stealth on their side and are beginning to start
the process of refining uranium. There is movement all around the
reactor building. It’s hard to tell, but it appears that the
massive cooling units on the roof have been turned on.”

“
Wait a minute,” Evan
said. “Cooling units? On the roof? I landed right next to them.
They were on.”

Arthur leaned in, “I would think that there
would be no reason for those cooling units to be on unless the
reactor was already operational. Are you sure they were on?”

“
Absolutely,” Evan said.
“They were fairly loud. Anyway, I could feel the updraft from them
in my parachute.”

“
If the cooling units were
functioning at that time,” Arthur continued, “that would seem to
indicate that they were already processing uranium before Evan
arrived.”

“
But the detector did not
pick up any uranium at the building,” Evan said.

“
Perhaps they were
processing the uranium, and then removed it before Evan got there,”
Arthur said.

“
That only would make
sense if they knew I was coming,” Evan said.

“
Oh, come on,” William
said. “How would they have found out?”

“
Maybe, somebody told
them,” Evan said.

William looked away in disgust. “This is
getting us nowhere. They must have started the cooling units in
anticipation of the uranium being loaded into the reactor
building.”

“
Gentleman, that is
enough,” the President said. “We have a serious situation on our
hands. I need your teams to cooperate. Now Evan, can you think of
anything else that might help the reconnaissance folks analyze the
situation?”

Evan thought for a moment. “I cannot think
of anything right now. Other than spending some time on the roof of
the reactor building, I went straight for the helipad. I am afraid
I am not much help.”

“
That’s okay, dear,” the
President said. “Arthur, William, that is all I needed. I have to
go to a meeting now with the Secretary of State. I will let you
know if we need anything further from the agency.”

Arthur got up and turned on the lights.
“Evan, you can go for the day, William and I have to discuss
administrative issues. Keep your phone with you.”

Evan got up and walked out of the conference
room.

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