Light flooded into Kaitlin’s vision as the bag was yanked off her head. She screwed up her eyes until they’d adjusted to the glare, straining at the cuffs that bound her hands behind the chair on which she was sitting.
‘You can’t do this to me,’ she snarled.
‘I’m not doing anything.’ A voice with a hint of Texan wide open spaces rolled out at her back.
‘You can’t snatch me from my home.’
‘You weren’t snatched.’
‘How did I get here, then?’
‘You’re not here.’
At that, Kaitlin felt a chill. She understood the implication. This was outside the law. She was a nobody, nowhere, with no voice, and if she wasn’t careful, she might never find her way back to the world she knew.
A man wandered round into her frame of vision. He was heavyset, bearded, with a Hawaiian shirt open to reveal tufts of chest hair. He slumped down and rocked back on the rear two legs.
‘Is this how the government acts now?’ she asked. ‘What are you, CIA?’
He shrugged. Definitely CIA.
‘Lucky me. I got the trifecta. Don’t any of you government agencies ever talk to each other?’
‘That implies we’re all working to the same end,’ he drawled.
‘Conspiracies everywhere.’
‘Yup.’
‘What’s your name?’
He looked up at the ceiling fan for a moment. ‘You can call me Grady.’
‘Am I under arrest?’
‘Course not. Just wanted to make sure you’re OK.’
‘Well, I’m just fine.’ Her expression was stony.
‘That’s good to know.’ Grady rocked back and forth, staring at her and grinning.
Kaitlin held his gaze. After a moment, he picked up a plastic file from the table and flicked through the contents.
‘You visited the brother of one of the passengers on Flight 702, one Dr Aziz.’
‘Not against the law.’
‘It’s the kind of thing that sets those old alarm bells jangling. Your parents are pretty worried about you, I hear.’
‘Leave my parents out of it.’
‘I’m afraid I can’t do that, Kaitlin. Sorry. They’re a part of this. One step removed, maybe. But they made Conor Le and Conor Le is …’ He wafted a hand in the air. ‘A person of interest, shall we say.’
‘Get to the point.’
‘Feisty. I like that. Well, now, just like you, I’m investigating Flight 702 – ’cept I’m doing it legitimately.’
‘And I’m illegitimate?’
‘Hanging round with shady characters like Rory Murray? That’s not a good look, Kaitlin.’
‘What’s he got to do with anything?’
‘Just seems like a strange choice of ally. You shouldn’t be so sure you can trust him.’
‘Well, I’m pretty sure I can’t trust you.’
Grady examined his file again. ‘You know he was involved with a plane crash before, right? Helped to cover up the cause, in fact. He protected his client, the airline, and as a result, more people died.’
Kaitlin flinched. Surely that couldn’t be true? Was this another layer to the smokescreen of lies?
‘He knew there was a fault in their planes. But if he’d revealed that information, his clients would have lost a pretty big lawsuit.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘That’s neither here nor there. The point is, there are official investigations under way, and yours and Mr Murray’s are not among them.’
Kaitlin strained against the cuffs again. Futile. But the pain where they cut into her wrists cleared her head from the hurt she felt at Rory having potentially lied to her. Suddenly, it clicked.
‘This is about my brother.’
‘It is, indeed. The guy you think called you.’
‘He did call me.’
‘Impossible. Conor’s dead. You know that.’
His voice was edged with humour. She couldn’t read him at all.
‘Why are you interested in Conor?’
‘You mean with all those skills as a hacker?’
‘You think my brother brought the plane down?’
‘Now that really would upset your parents, wouldn’t it? After everything they’ve already gone through.’
‘I told you to leave my parents out of this,’ she snapped. ‘Conor had nothing to do with it.’
‘We never truly know the people close to us, Kaitlin. There’s a life lesson for you. Take it or leave it.’ Grady tossed the file back on the table. ‘However, you know more about Conor than most. That little secret life he had going on.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘OK.’ Grady pulled out his phone, swiped through the apps, then opened one.
To her astonishment, it was her own voice rolling out of the speaker, taking her back to that awful night
‘Do you know who these people even are?’
‘What business is it of yours?’
That was Conor.
She felt a rush of shock. That was when he’d dropped round to her place, basking in the glory of cracking the bank hack. Why had the CIA been spying on her back then, long before Flight 702 disappeared?
She was yelling, her phone distorting through the phone’s speaker.
‘You always do this! You just soak up all the admiration and assume it’s deserved. That you’re always right, that every choice you make is OK. You never stop to question things.’
‘You don’t get a say in this any more, Kait. It’s my life, it’s my job,’
‘Who are you even working for! I’m worried about you!’
‘For God’s sake, I’m not a kid! This kind of thing is exactly why I moved out.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Kaitlin remembered the hurt she’d felt at that moment.
‘I don’t need this kind of scrutiny.’
At the time, he’d rolled his eyes like a teenager.
‘No, you do. I know you, Conor. You just don’t want anyone around who can tell when you’re doing something wrong.’
‘I’m not doing anything wrong. It’s a broken system – I’m just trying to fix it.’
‘And the people you work for? Are you sure that’s what they’re doing?’
‘Leave me alone, Kait. Just get off my back.’
She heard the sound of a door slamming and in that instant, she was back there, remembering her anger, knowing with the benefit of hindsight that it would soon fade into guilt and regret.
Grady clicked off the recording.
‘You were right to be worried about what your brother was involved in. Is it surprising that other people were worried, too?’
‘How did you get this recording?’ Kaitlin caught herself. ‘You were monitoring him because of his hacking activity.’
‘Correctomundo.’
‘Did you have him under observation, right up to … right up to Flight 702?’
‘Of course not. He was in the UK. Not our jurisdiction. What did you think he was doing?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You were that upset over “I don’t know”?’
‘I just thought he had some unreliable friends.’
‘If you’re aware of criminal activity and you don’t report it, that makes you an accomplice. You know that, right?’
Kaitlin didn’t answer.
‘You should talk to me, you know.’
‘I have no reason to talk to you.’
‘What about your parents?’
‘I told you—’
‘They’re happy in Kansas, aren’t they. Settled?’ Grady pushed himself up and sauntered across the room. ‘I understand there might be some problems with their immigration status.’
‘They’ve been here since 1986. They have green cards. They’re not illegal.’
He leaned against the wall and folded his arms. ‘Yeah. There’s so much paperwork involved in immigration. So easy to make a mistake. And if someone spots a mistake now, the wrong box ticked, maybe, or a spelling error, then we’d have no choice but to get our buddies at immigration to follow up. Maybe Homeland Security, too.’
‘You’re threatening to kick out legal immigrants?’ Half of her was simmering with rage at this threat, the other half was terrified.
‘The last administration was concerned about how easy it is to enter this country illegally. We’re a bit behind the times here, still operating on old ways of behaviour, you get me? We’re trying to be a bit more diligent from here on out in making sure everyone is here legally. That’s all.’
‘Oh my God.’
‘Of course, if we were confident that you and your family were loyal to the United States, we wouldn’t have any reason to look into your paperwork at all. Would we? So, why was Conor on that flight?’
Kaitlin clenched her teeth. ‘I don’t know.’
‘That’s your final word on the matter?’
‘I don’t have any other words. I just don’t know.’
Grady studied her. After a moment, he nodded. ‘OK. Seems to me you know now what’s at stake. So, let’s set you back on your way.’
‘That’s it?’
‘Like you said, you don’t have any other words. But I’m sure we’ll see each other again. Or rather, I’ll see you.’
Kaitlin raced through the night. She still had no idea where she was going, but now she was truly scared witless for the first time since she’d started her investigation. She pressed her burner tight to her ear as she ran.
‘You want to come here?’ Rory was saying.
‘No. God, no. I’ve got to disappear. They threatened to deport my parents, Rory.’
‘They can’t do that. There’s no legal basis for deporting immigrants who haven’t committed a felony.’
‘If you believe they’ll stick to the rules, you’ve not been paying attention.’
‘What did they want?’
‘They were asking me about Conor.’
‘I know this doesn’t help right now, but at least now we know for sure that we’re on the right track. If the CIA are going to these lengths—’
‘You’re right, it doesn’t help. Rory, they told me you were involved in hiding some information about problems with an airline’s planes that cost lives.’
A long silence. So, it was true.
Kaitlin felt sick.
‘We need to have a conversation,’ he began.
‘I can’t believe you hid that from me!’
‘I’ve got my flaws, Kaitlin. I’m not going to try to hide that. I’ve not been a good guy. I’ve let my family down, let myself down. But I’m trying to do the right thing here, believe me.’
‘I don’t know if I can trust you, Rory. Look, I’ve got to go.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘If we need to speak again, I’ll be in touch.’
She hung up.