Dream Sky (20 page)

They eavesdropped on several other equally boring conversations for thirty minutes before hitting on one that sounded more interesting. It was between an older, distinguished-looking woman and a young, well-coiffed man.

“What is that?” Mya asked. “German?”

“Dutch, I think,” Jesse said.

“Do you understand it?” Caleb asked.

Jesse shook his head.

“Do any of you?”

More shakes.

To Caleb, this conversation sounded more important than a discussion about how many sacks of flour were sitting in a particular warehouse.

“We
are
recording this, right?” Caleb asked.

“Every second,” Devin said.

The conversation went on for another three minutes, then both parties signed off and the signal ended.

Caleb thought for a moment before turning to Mya. “Think you can find someone who can translate that?”

“I can try. Devin, put a copy in my dropbox.”

“Will do.”

As soon as Mya left, Caleb said, “All right. Let’s see what else we can find.”

__________

M
YA THOUGHT IF
anyone knew about a Dutch speaker among the Resistance at Ward Mountain, it would be Crystal, and, sure enough, she did. There were two Dutch speakers at the base—a German man named Jans Stephan who also spoke Dutch, and a Belgian named Ilse Vanduffel who spoke Flemish, which, according to Crystal, was a Dutch dialect.

Mya decided to seek out Ilse since she would be the native speaker. The woman was part of the Resistance’s security forces. Mya tracked her down in one of the workout rooms, where hand-to-hand combat training was taking place. When Mya entered, those inside stopped what they were doing and looked over at her.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “I’m looking for Ilse Vanduffel.”

 A tall, lean, muscular woman with short brown hair broke from the crowd. “I’m Ilse.”

“I have a translation job I need your help with.”

Ilse looked a bit put out. “Is it urgent?”

“Very.” Mya wasn’t sure she had the authority to make that call, but what the hell?

After a nod from the man who appeared to be in charge, Ilse said, “What is it I can help you with?”

__________

T
HEY FOUND A
computer in an unoccupied office down the hall from the workout room. Mya accessed her internal network dropbox and opened the video.

“What is this?” Ilse asked before Mya hit P
LAY
.

“A video call between two Project Eden members.”

Ilse’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

Mya clicked the arrow to start the video. She had expected Ilse to start telling her what was being said, but the woman silently watched the entire conversation, her expression unchanged throughout.

When it was finished, Mya said, “Well? It is Dutch, isn’t it? You understood it?”

Ilse continued to look at the screen for a few more seconds before she looked over. “I understood it.” She wet her lips. “Where is Captain Ash?”

“I don’t know exactly. Somewhere around.

“We need to find him.”

__________

S
INCE CALEB WOULD
want to know what was going on, Mya decided they would gather back in the communications trailer. She sent Ilse ahead and went in search of Captain Ash, finding him at a back table in the cafeteria, hunched over a couple of open books with Chloe. When Mya explained the situation, they both came with her.

“Finally!” Caleb said as Mya, Ash, and Chloe entered. He gestured toward Ilse, who was sitting on a chair against the trailer wall. “Will you tell this woman it’s okay to share with us what she knows?”

“Your charm didn’t work on her?” Mya asked, smirking.

“All she said was that she’d come to tell us what the message meant, and then she promptly sat down and shut up.”

“She told me Captain Ash should hear it, too.”

Caleb spread his hands, palms up. “And telling a story twice has never happened in the whole history of mankind?”

“Cool it,” Ash said. “I’m here now, so we can get on with it.”

“Ilse,” Mya said. “Go ahead.”

Ilse stood up. “Can we play the message here?”

Mya shot a look across the room. “Devin?”

“Two seconds.”

The trailer had no large screen like in the comm room, but there was a medium-sized HD monitor at the empty station next to where Devin was sitting. Within seconds, it filled with a still image of the recorded video conversation.

Before Devin could click
PLAY
, Ilse said, “One moment.” She walked over to the screen and pointed. “This man is Dutch. If I have to guess, I would say he was from Amsterdam or very nearby. The woman refers to him as van Assen. That would be his surname. She never says his entire name. The woman is not Dutch nor is she Flemish. While she speaks Dutch very well, it is not her native language. By her accent, I would say she is possibly English, but more likely American or Canadian.”

“Is her name mentioned?” Ash asked.

“He calls her only Director.” She looked at Devin. “Please start.”

As the video played, Ilse gave a running translation.

DIRECTOR: …as you promise.

VAN ASSEN: So my file?

DIRECTOR: Contains a commendation for your work in Mumbai, and clears you of any responsibility for what occurred.

VAN ASSEN: I very much appreciate that, Director. Thank you.

DIRECTOR: You earned it, so no need for any thanks.

VAN ASSEN: My new assignment starts in a few hours, so I won’t bother you any longer.

DIRECTOR: There has been a change of plans.

VAN ASSEN: Change?

DIRECTOR: You will not be joining the transition division in Madrid.

VAN ASSEN: I won’t? Then where do I report?

DIRECTOR: You will be reporting directly to me.

VAN ASSEN: Oh. Thank you, Director. I’m honored. I will arrange transportation and can be there as early as tomorrow.

DIRECTOR: Hold on. You will be reporting to me, but you will not be coming here. I’m sending you back to India.

VAN ASSEN: What?

DIRECTOR: There is a new…structure in place. One I am part of. But if I am going to do my job effectively, I need to keep an eye on my colleagues. You will be my eyes in Jaipur. You are to proceed to NB551, where you will fill an opening on Director Parkash Mahajan’s staff. While you carry out your daily duties for the director, you will keep me informed on the director’s activities. I assume this is not outside your abilities.”

VAN ASSEN: Not at all, Director. It would be an honor to serve you.

DIRECTOR: Then I would say you have a very bright future in the Project.

__________

“Y
OU CAN STOP
now,” Ilse said.

As the image paused, Ash said, “Is there more?”

“They talk for another few minutes. Details that I can translate and write down, but the main focus of the conversation ends here.”

Ash looked back at the screen.
Director
was a term used at many different levels within Project Eden—department directors, facility directors, division directors, to name a few. The woman could have been any of these. But from the way she and this van Assen were talking, and the scant description of Director Mahajan, Ash had the sense the woman was much higher up in the organization. Wanting to keep tabs on another director not stationed anywhere near where she was could mean her position was right near the top, if not within the innermost circle itself.

Since the death of the previous principal director in the destruction of NB219, Project Eden would have quickly moved to fill the leadership vacuum. But without access to Matt’s contacts within the Project, the Resistance had yet to learn who or what filled that vacuum. Was this conversation a clue to that?

Ash looked over at Mya. “Can we bring up our database in here? I want to see what we have on this Parkash Mahajan.”

She scanned the room, but before she could answer, Devin said, “I can bring it up on my laptop.”

“Do it.”

Less than a minute later, Ash, Chloe, and the others were huddled behind Devin. On the computer screen was the Resistance’s information sheet on Parkash Mahajan. There weren’t as many details as Ash would have liked, but enough to show Mahajan was indeed high up within the Project Eden leadership structure. The most recent information listed him as possible regional director of Southern and Southeast Asia.

“If he’s a regional director, then the woman must be at least that level, too,” Ash said. “Is there a way to bring up a list of other presumed regional directors?”

“Let me see,” Devin said.

He ended up having to cobble it together, so it took him a few minutes, but when he finished, he had a list of eleven names.

“That can’t be all of them,” Chloe said.

“It isn’t,” Devin said. “But it’s as complete as I can get.”

There were several regions not listed but must have had directors: western Africa, the Middle East through the area around the Black Sea, Northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands area, though the last may have been covered in full or in part by the western South America director or the East Asia director.

Ash scanned the list and zeroed in on two names—Marlene Lee, who was thought to be in charge of the southern Africa region, and Celeste Johnson, in charge of the eastern half of North America. Both were names that could have easily been found in the States.

“Are there any photos of these people?” he asked.

“I doubt it,” Devin said.

“Can you check? I’m interested in Marlene Lee and Celeste Johnson.”

Devin set up the search, then shook his head. “Nothing on Celeste Johnson.” He switched the parameters to Marlene Lee and studied the results. “This might be something.” He clicked on the link.

Ash stared, surprised, when the picture appeared on the screen. It was a candid shot of a group coming out of what appeared to be a conference room. Most of those in the image were men Ash had seen before, though they were not as old as when he had been in their presence.

“The pre-flu directorate,” he said.

He could feel Chloe tensing next to him, and knew she recognized the men, too. These were some of the Project Eden leaders who had died at Bluebird, the Project’s base on Yanok Island, from where the pandemic had been initiated.

Devin pointed at the screen. “According to the photo tag, that’s Marlene Lee.”

The woman he indicated was half turned away from the camera, and mostly blocked from view by the others. But there was enough detail to see she was Asian, not Caucasian like the woman on the video call.

“All right. At least we know the woman’s not Marlene Lee,” Chloe said.

“Doesn’t tell us if she’s Celeste Johnson, though,” Devin said.

“No, it doesn’t,” Ash said. “But I’m willing to bet it’s her. Do we have a location on Ms. Johnson?”

Devin checked the database and shook his head. “It says here that she is probably located at one of the Project’s facilities on the East Coast, but it doesn’t say which one.”

“Van Assen said New York,” Mya said.

“That might be as close to a confirmation as we can get,” Chloe said.

Ash leaned back, thinking.

After he’s gone, we’ll go after the next set of leaders and the next and the next. Each time we succeed, the Project becomes more unbalanced.

Matt’s words, said after he’d told Ash and Chloe he was going after Principal Director Perez. A keep-knocking-them-down-until-they-stay-down strategy. It was as sound a plan as the Resistance could hope for.

“Maybe there’s someone who can pinpoint where Director Johnson is for sure,” Ash said. “We can look into that in a bit. In the meantime, we do know where Mahajan is. NB551 in Jaipur.” He looked around. “Do we have anyone near there?”

He was greeted with blank faces.

“We don’t handle that,” Caleb said. “Operations would know, or the comm center.”

Ash looked around at all the equipment. “I assume you can connect me from here.”

Twenty seconds later, he was talking to Crystal.

“The closest people we have are in Thailand and Singapore,” she said, her voice coming out of the speaker on Caleb’s computer. “But they’re pretty tied up.”

“There’s no one in India?”

“We had three teams there. But two had to be diverted to help out in southern China, and the third’s been sent to deal with a sizable group of survivors in Sri Lanka.”

Ash pressed his lips together, annoyed.

“I’m open to suggestions,” he said.

“I would have to check on statuses, but I might be able to free up someone in a few days.”

Ash didn’t like the delay, but it was better than not sending anyone at all. “All right. See what you—”

Mya said, “What about Sanjay’s people?”

Ash looked over at her.

“I mean, they’re in India already,” she said. “I don’t know how far Jaipur is from where they are, but they’ve got to be able to get there sooner than a few days, right?”

She had a point.

“Can someone tell me how far it is?”

“Checking,” Devin said. “Um, it’s not exactly close. Seven hundred thirty-five miles or thereabouts. Maybe sixteen hours of driving?”

As Mya said, still sooner than a few days.

“Can we get Sanjay on the phone?” Ash asked Crystal.

“Actually,” Caleb said, “we can do it from here. If he’s not at the Mumbai survival station yet, he should be soon.”