Operation: Unknown Angel

by Margaret Kay

  “What the hell?” Mother demanded.

  “Besides protecting Annaka, there’s nothing left for us to do here that can’t be done from the office,” Cooper said.

  “One of the men who kidnapped her is still out there,” Mother debated.

  “She can come with us,” Lambchop said.

  Mother ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated and pissed.

  “I’ve looked over their equipment,” Madison said. “There is no reason they can’t monitor it from anywhere. She doesn’t need to be here to track the whales.”

  “If she won’t come, the FBI will assign a detail to her too,” Cooper said.

  When The video call ended, Annaka had to admit that she did feel a bit better. Joe and his advice were not what she expected. It wasn’t a deep self-evaluation he wanted her to do. He didn’t think how she felt was cause for concern. He seemed to indicate that it was normal, and he’d feel the same way.

  She stood and went to the door. Conversation stopped, and everyone looked at her as she entered the main room of the suite. The others were eating. Danny sat at the table. He held a box up. “We got you a pot roast dinner, just in case.”

  “Thank you. Yes, I’m hungry.”

  She took a seat beside him and dug in. She was happy he didn’t ask her how the call went. She wondered if the rest of them knew she was talking with Joe. It sounded like they all spoke with him, so she assumed it wouldn’t be a big deal to anyone if they knew she was talking to him, but she still felt weird about it.

  “Annaka, the work you do with the whales, at least short-term could be done from anywhere. Don’t you agree?” Cooper said from nowhere.

  “I’m not sure I understand your question.”

  Mother took her hand. “Annaka, the monitoring of the equipment can be done from anywhere.”

  “No, the specific equipment is in the lab.”

  “It can be accessed remotely. Our tech guys can get you set up to VPN into the equipment in the lab from anywhere, like my place,” Mother said with a smile.

  “VPN? From your place?”

  “I had a call earlier with our boss. We’re at a standstill in the investigation. Our team is pulling out tomorrow, Annaka. Besides protecting you, there is nothing more for us to do here on the ground. Our digital team will still be digging into it all, trying to determine who from Carstairs ordered this,” Cooper said.

  “What about Remi?” She asked.

  “The FBI will keep a detail on her and on Ames,” Cooper advised.

  “Then they can assign someone to me too.” She couldn’t believe they would be leaving already.

  Mother squeezed her hand. “Or you could come with us and I can protect you at my place, though you will probably be safe just being away from here.”

  “It’s not just the monitoring of my equipment. I take a rotation in the research office monitoring all the equipment. You know that, Danny. We have someone there around the clock.”

  “You’re not taking overnight shifts and it looks like the place is fully staffed the rest of the time. Annaka, this is short term, till we figure this out. I don’t want you six or more hours away again in case something else happens,” Mother said. “Please, will you consider it?” He leaned in close and whispered. “For me.” When she still didn’t look convinced, he added, “besides, you were talking about relocating, anyway. Now’s as good of a time as any.”

  “I know. I would just feel like I’m letting the rest of my team down.”

  “You said yourself that most of the monitoring could be done remotely if you were set up to do it. We could help everyone get their equipment enabled so Claude could monitor the glacier, Ames could monitor the seismic activity, you can monitor the whales. No one would have to be staffed to monitor equipment overnight,” Mother said. “I think the others at the lab would appreciate that.”

  “I told you before, sometimes seeing the whole picture is best.”

  “So, you all do video meetings to compare your data. Use technology to make your work better, sharable, easier. You do not need to be at the office or near all the equipment to share the data,” Madison said.

  Annaka nodded. “I think it’s worth talking with everyone else about to see what they think of it.”

  “Does that mean you’re willing to consider coming back with us?” Mother asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “We’ll be leaving later tomorrow afternoon,” Cooper said. “We fly home overnight.”

  “We should probably know by noon tomorrow if you’ll be staying or going. We’ll need to get a detachment of FBI Agents to guard you if you’re staying,” Lambchop added.

  She shook her head. “I’m not staying. Get the technology solution in place so I can monitor my whales.” When her eyes met Danny’s, she could see in them he was questioning if it meant what he thought it meant. “I’ll come with you,” she confirmed with a smile.

  Warmth from her words, crept through him. She was coming home with him. “Thank you. I’ll feel much better knowing you are with me.”

  Annaka’s gaze left Danny and swept over the others. Even though she was grateful for everything they’d done and that she would go with them, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed that they had been ordered to pull out by their boss already.

  Annaka went into the bedroom before Danny again. Now that she’d decided to go with them to Illinois tomorrow, she felt a weight lifted. She settled into bed and played her games, waiting for Danny. She wondered if he would stay home for a while as she would be there, or would he head out right away on a mission, leaving her at his house alone. She hoped he’d be there with her for at least a week. Then her mind wandered to long term. What was she going to do?

  Mother entered the room, and a smile pulled at his lips, seeing Annaka settled into bed. He couldn’t wait to see her in his bed, in his room, in his house. He knew he would not want her to ever leave. He’d have to work on that. He’d have at least a few weeks to make Annaka realize that with him was where she wanted to be.

  He crawled up the bed and settled on top of her. “Thank you for agreeing to come with us,” he said after he pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

  “You’re welcome. And thank you for inviting me to come. I have to say, I feel relieved with making the decision.”

  “You seemed more relaxed after you talked with Joe.”

  “I do. You were right about him. He told me that if I want to talk with him again, that you can put me in touch with him.”

  “And do you?” Mother asked.

  “I may. Let’s see how it goes. You know, it may take me a few months to find a new position.”

  “There’s no time limit on my invitation to stay with me.” He brushed several more kisses over her lips.

  “Mm, I like that,” she moaned as she returned his kiss. “If it does become too much, me staying there, you have to promise me you’ll let me know.”

  “I don’t even want to think about you moving out,” he murmured in her ear as he kissed it.

  Uniform

  Annaka became more nervous, the closer they got to the research office. She dreaded telling her coworkers, her friends, of her decision to leave Alaska. She was sure they wouldn’t understand, especially those who were born and raised here. Ayla and Remi seemed to think that the Kenai Peninsula was the best place in the world to live.

  When they arrived and went inside, Annaka glanced around the room. Ayla, Remi, Claude, and Clint were there. She knew Sonia and Peter were taking the evening and overnight shifts. She felt sad that she wouldn’t get to say goodbye to either of them, especially Peter. He’d been a great assistant.

  Ayla flashed her a frown. “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing,” Annaka replied. She should have known that Ayla would know right away something was wrong. “But I do have something to tell you all. The tech guy who works with Danny’s team is going to get us all set up with the ability to remote into our equipment to monitor it. He’ll al
so set up a file share that all results get dumped into for us all to view. And he’ll also set up an online video chat screen for us to meet and share our findings from anywhere. You all can discuss if that means the office won’t need to be manned around the clock, but I don’t think it will need to be any longer.”

  “That’s great,” Remi said. Her eyes swept over the Shepherd Security team as well as Annaka. “Thank you for setting that up. It will help a lot. I for one think it’s a good idea. We shouldn’t have to have someone staffed here at all times.”

  “We’ll still need someone to monitor the file share, to ensure nothing happens without eyes to it,” Claude said. “But I suppose that would be more expeditiously done from the comfort of our own homes.”

  Annaka noticed that Ayla still stared at her as the others spoke. “I don’t think it necessarily needs to be watched around the clock. The data will all be there to review by any of us at any point, even days later as it is now. This will just make it easier,” Annaka said. When she glanced back at Ayla, she still stared at her.

  “What aren’t you telling us?” Ayla finally asked.

  Annaka took a deep breath. “That Danny and his team have been recalled. They leave here this afternoon and I’m going with them.” Whew, there, she said it.

  “What do you mean you’re going with them?” Ayla asked.

  “I’ll be set up in the Chicago area to work with all of you. I’ll monitor the whales. We can have daily video meetings. It’ll be just like I’m here.”

  “But you won’t be,” Ayla pointed out. “For how long?”

  Annaka gazed at Danny. “I don’t know. We’ll see how long the grant continues if I’m not on site.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Clint Ames said. “My wife isn’t so thrilled with being here any longer either. We’re thinking of relocating if another position with the USGS looks good. A few months ago, they had a position in Hawaii we looked at. The cost of living there is so high though, even worse than here. We decided against it.”

  A disturbed expression settled on Ayla’s face. “Are you thinking of not coming back, Annaka?”

  “I’m not sure, Ayla,” Annaka said, even though she’d made her mind up that she didn’t want to be in Alaska any longer. “I just want to spend some time with Danny, work remotely for as long as I can, and then I’ll decide.”

  “But you’re thinking of not coming back?” Ayla pressed.

  “Easy,” Mother said. He stepped over to Ayla and wrapped his arm around her. “She just needs a change, and honestly, we want to spend some time together to see what can come of our relationship. You can’t blame us for that.” He flashed her a grin. “Plus, Annaka’s house was just destroyed and we’re sure it was related to all of this. Can you blame her for wanting to be out of the area for a while, if not permanently?”

  “How can you consider leaving the Kenai Peninsula? This place is beautiful. It’s your home,” Ayla said.

  “It is beautiful, and you guys are not only my coworkers, you’re my friends. As Danny said, I just need a change and I want to give this relationship with him a chance. I want to spend more time with him. My house is gone. I have nowhere to live. I can remote in and still do my job. This is the perfect time to give it a try.”

  “Of course, it is and none of us blame you, Annaka,” Remi spoke up. “Hopefully, the federal grant will continue to let you do the work remotely for as long as you want to.”

  “I plan to file the request today,” Annaka said. “I’m sure they will grant me at least two weeks, which is customary, but we’ll see how long they’ll approve it for.”

  “Okay, let’s get you all set up,” Madison said now that the discussion was over. She opened her tablet and logged in. The email from Caleb Smith at HQ was there as promised. “One of our tech guys worked on this for you last night. He set up a virtual environment with the appropriate servers and firewalls as well as the file share. He emailed me the desktop client which I’ll email to each of you. Then we just need to connect your equipment and you’ll be all set.”

  If Annaka hadn’t already been impressed with Madison and what she was capable of, she would have been now. She watched Madison lead them all through it, so they learned what they were doing and why. Even Claude, who was the most technology challenged among them could follow along and enable the program on his laptop.

  Just as they were finishing up with installing the desktop client on each of their laptops, a tremor gently shook the area for five seconds. It was a very low magnitude quake. Clint reviewed the data on his equipment. Its epicenter was out in the bay where the larger quake the day before had originated.

  “Hopefully, we’re about done with the aftershocks,” Claude complained.

  “I hope so too,” Ames said. “Madison, can we migrate the seismology equipment into the virtual environment first? I’m hoping we have another tremor while you’re here so I can be sure it’s working correctly.”

  “Sure,” Madison replied. “It’ll take a little longer to migrate each piece of equipment and test it. But we can have it done before we leave.”

  Two hours later, and all the monitoring equipment in the lab was migrated. Annaka was restless. They had accomplished all they could here and even though she should have relished the last few hours with her friends, all she could think about was leaving. She disconnected her laptop from the docking station and began to pack it away in her bag.

  “What are you doing, Annaka?” Ayla demanded. “You’re not getting ready to leave already, are you? I thought you guys were here through the afternoon?”

  Annaka stopped and went over to Ayla. She wrapped her friend in a hug. “I’ll miss you too. I’ll especially miss Friday nights with you and Nuki. I’m done for the day and just packing up so I can spend my last few hours not focused on my laptop. How about I buy everyone lunch from the sub shop today? Danny and I can go pick it up.”

  Everyone in the office thought it was a great idea. She took everyone’s order, including everyone from Shepherd Security, turning down their money. They’d bought all her meals since they’d arrived. She grabbed her coat and purse and followed Danny to the door.

  The shaking started again, and everyone knew this one was different. It was immediately more intense. The ground shook violently, more violently than the last few tremors. Everything on the desks and tables that wasn’t fastened in place fell over or skittered across the flat surfaces. Desk drawers opened by themselves. The rumble was loud. Everyone inside crawled below desks if they could. Ten seconds, fifteen seconds. It didn’t stop. A crack appeared in the ceiling. Plaster fell into the room. It sounded as though the building was tearing apart.

  Mother wrapped his arms around Annaka and pulled her out the door. The ground shifted and shuddered. Footing was unsteady. Outside, car alarms sounded. The land rolled; the parking lot and the road in front of it appeared to undulate. The pavement cracked.

  The unmistakable sound of an explosion in the distance drew their attention left, to the inlet, to platform C-Three. Bright orange and yellow flames shot high into the sky. A dark black cloud swirled and boiled up from around the inferno.

  The afternoon air was chilly, but Annaka didn’t feel the cold. She felt nothing as she stared at the blaze in shock. She didn’t believe what she saw. She must have shivered. As the thunder from the ground ceased, Danny wrapped himself more tightly around her. And just like that, the horrendous roar that had reverberated from all around, was gone. The screams of car alarms and sirens replaced the rumble of the quake.

  Everyone from inside the research building spilled out into the parking lot.

  “My God! There’s over eighty men on that rig,” Remi gasped.

  “We need to get to the nearest boat dock and get out there to help,” Sloan said, already moving towards the vehicle his medical backpack was in. Handsome was right behind him, eager to get out there and help whoever may be injured. No, he wasn’t a team medic, but they’d all had combat first aid.


  “How unstable do you think the building is?” Clint Ames asked no one in particular. “I need to get back in there and review the data on that quake.”

  “And I need to check the stability of the glacier on my equipment too,” Claude Renault added. “We could have a secondary disaster if a big piece of that glacier calves off.”

  Mother’s brain had already shifted, evaluating what needed to be done. From the calculating and determined looks on all his teammate’s faces, he knew theirs had too.

  “Undertaker, Handsome, Lambchop, and Birdman, take the SUV. Find a boat and get out there.” Cooper threw the keys to the SUV to Lambchop. “Xena, get on your tablet. Set up links with local EMS, the Coast Guard at Kodiak, and the Ops center in Elmendorf. You run point for us till they get on site. Taco, Mother, and I will check out the stability of this building before we head to the marina to get a boat and join the rescue out there.”