“How did it know who I was?” she asked.
“The trackers we gave you,” smiled Quinn. “This is a top-secret facility that works on some of the most innovative defense systems in the world. No one gets in without being approved.”
“Wow,” she whispered as Quinn took her hand, walking her to the massive steel doors that opened to allow them in. Wyatt and Leo were on duty today, nodding at the men as they entered.
“They’re upstairs,” said Leo.
April followed them up the steel stairway and toward a massive conference room. Victoria and Hayes were chattering back and forth as something appeared on the television screen at the end of the room.
“Hi,” said Gator. “We’re here.” Montana nodded, smirking at the young couple.
“I see that. I’m letting the geniuses get their excitement out,” she smiled. “You must be April. I’m Montana.”
“Nice to meet you,” said April.
“Oh, you’re here!” squealed Victoria. “You’re not going to believe this! You’re simply not going to believe this!”
“Victoria, if you could tell me what it is, honey, I might believe it,” said Ham frowning at her.
“Oh, yes,” she giggled.
“I’ll show them,” said Hayes smiling at his wife. He connected one end of the tiny, micro-cable to a transmitter leading to the television and stepped back. “Victoria was right in her initial assessment of the threads in the suitcase. They carried information about flights, both commercial and military but that’s not all. The fibers that Tanner, Bogey, and Benji brought back were an upgrade.
“The new fibers not only allow the data to be downloaded, but it allows data to be sent to the fibers in real time. It’s like a portable radio without the dials.”
“Explain, Hayes. This doesn’t make any sense to me,” said Gator.
“Let’s say April is wheeling through the airport with her suitcase. She passes by a rebooking desk and the sensors within the fibers take the information in, recognize who has been moved and to which flights, which flights were cancelled or delayed. She keeps walking.
“Later, she’s in the employee lounge waiting with other flight personnel. Pilots are getting updates on routes, weather, mechanical issues on planes, all of it. Her little suitcase, or Jerry’s, was taking all that in.
“Then, when she’s actually onboard the flight, the suitcase, generally sitting within reach of the cockpit, is now accessing all the flight data for every plane in that region. And then it’s sending it to another source.”
“Holy fuck,” muttered Ham. “I kept thinking the data would be old by the time someone got it but it wasn’t.”
“It was originally,” said Victoria, “but they found a way to make everything occur in real time. Keep in mind, even the old way was effective because they could figure out patterns, especially with military flights. Commercial flights are too dependent on weather conditions, mechanical problems, crews coming in late, that sort of thing. But military flights tend to run repeatable exercises and patterns of flying. I think that’s what they were truly looking for.”
“I agree with Victoria,” said Hayes, “but I also think knowing who was on which commercial flights provided them with valuable information. Anyone they wanted dead could be blown out of the sky.”
“And private jets?” asked Ham.
“They would know those as well.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
April listened as they continued to talk about all the possibilities and possible candidates that would be using this technology. She had no idea so many horrible people existed in the world and that these men and women would know their names.
“It’s overwhelming, isn’t it?” smiled Celeste. Standing beside her was Macie.
“Oh. Yes,” she nodded.
“I’m Celeste, this is Macie. We’re both engineers and work here at G.R.I.P.”
“I’m April Lewis. I’m, uh,” she stammered as the women laughed.
“You’re Quinn’s girlfriend and the woman caught in the middle of all this,” she smiled. “It’s alright, April. We’ve all been in the exact position you are, or at least similar.”
“It’s all happening so fast and I’m not even sure what ‘it’ is.”
