She hit send and waited for a response.
She knew she wouldn’t wait too long. No one took too long to return her emails. Taking your time or ignoring her was never good for anyone’s health.
Ping!
She opened the email and read the cursory response.
I’ll get the drone theory circulated today. We can add drone parts to the mix in the swamp when we’re out scavenging later. There’s still so much we haven’t found in the debris field. Also, don’t worry. The black box won’t be found.
Good, everything is in cleanup mode. There was a light rap on her door. “Enter.”
“Dr. Hennigan,” Ms. Wilson started as she opened and closed the door. “The email address linked to Ethan Bond was just located at a coffee shop outside Houston. The IP address was public, so we doubt he’ll be there by the time we have operatives in place, but we at least now have a general location in Houston to look.”
“Thank you, Ms. Wilson. The more eyes we have out there, the faster he’ll be to find.”
“Actually, we pulled an image from social media. Someone uploaded it from their phone. We immediately scrubbed the picture from social media and deleted it from the person’s phone.”
“What was the image?”
Ms. Wilson lifted her tablet, punched a few things on the screen, and said, “It’s in your inbox.”
Dr. Hennigan opened the file and saw a picture of a woman with her hand on Ethan’s. It wasn’t a perfect shot of Ethan. Half his face was covered in a ball cap and sunglasses, but it was clearly him.
“We double-checked identity confirmation through facial recognition?” Dr. Hennigan asked.
“Of course, ma’am. I did that before I bothered you. From this image and the opening of the email at the same establishment, we know Ethan Bond was there less than thirty-five minutes ago.”
“Indeed,” Dr. Hennigan said, steepling her hands under her chin.
“Are Denzili and Richardson back yet?”
“I think they should land in the next thirty minutes. Why?”
“Once they’ve been debriefed, let’s send them to Houston. They need to finish the acquisition and liquidation.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Ms. Wilson turned to leave.
“One more thing, Ms. Wilson…”
“Yes?” Ms. Wilson asked, turning around once more.
“Any word from Ms. Brighton and her audit team?”
“None yet. There was a problem with her plane in San Diego. Ican’t imaginewhat happened there,” Ms. Wilson said, her eyes glittering with mischief.
“These things happen,” Dr. Hennigan said, raising a single eyebrow and one corner of her mouth.
* * * *
Agent Murphy
Agent Murphy sat at her desk, tracking Ethan’s and Blayne’s movements through the Houston Airport on her computer monitor. She’d gotten the TSA to send over the video files that morning. She had to say it was a missing person case again because the National Transportation Safety Board said the explosion was looking more and more like an accident. The plane may have collided with a drone in the air.
“Where y’at?” Agent Harper asked, standing in Murphy’s doorway without knocking.
She’d jumped a little in her seat at the sudden voice but did her best to mask her annoyance at being interrupted. “I’m frustrated at the moment, watching Ethan Bond and an unknown male at the Houston Airport and trying to see if I can get any information on the unknown male.”
“Why?”
