Pop Travel Page 5

  Great. That would be me.

  “Yeah.” Cooper faked a smile. “I meant, have there been any glitches with the arrivals. Any travelers who didn’t come through?”

  “Oh. Nope. Not that I know of.”

  “Could anyone arrive and sneak past Security? Or maybe switch their destination at the last minute and go somewhere else?”

  “I doubt it. It would be impossible to change the codes at the transmission docks with the handprint ID linked to their destination. And no one is sneaking past Security. You can see how many cameras we have. This isn’t even all of them. The platform cams have their own special room in the back. Only three guards have clearance high enough to monitor those. But if a receiving platform wasn’t expecting an arrival, it could be in use. There’s a safety alert that won’t let two people be received at the same time, or else there’d be a big mess.”

  “And there’s been no problem like that? No messes?”

  “No. Not here. The dock codes are uncrackable. Someone would have to know a specific one to be able to transmit here. The technicians don’t even know the codes. They just monitor the handscans linked to the travelers’ tickets and the computers take care of sending travelers to the right destination.”

  “I see,” Cooper answered. He had a hard time swallowing such naïve trust. Leaving his life in the diodes of a computer made him even more wary of it. “Well, the lady I’m looking for is Dolores Engle, scheduled to arrive here at the ATC on May 10. Do you have records of her arrival? Is there any way I could see footage from that day?”

  “No way. That’s totally classified, man. Sorry. I don’t have that kind of clearance,” Gordy answered and scanned his screens, squinting as if he’d caught someone up to no good.

  Gordy’s quick, cutting response seemed out of character to Cooper, especially after all the friendly banter. His brow creased as he wracked his brain for a backup plan. Until his request fell flat, Cooper hadn’t realized how much he took for granted Gordy’s help.

  “Oh. I hoped you might be able to help me. Who does have clearance that might be able to help?”

  Gordy turned to Cooper and grinned.

  “I’m just playin’ with ya, man!” He gave Cooper a punch in the arm. Good old Gordy. “Hold on. Let me take a look. I don’t have access to the platforms but I can check the causeway and public areas.”

  He used his inset desk CC to search for the recorded arrival of Cooper’s traveler.

  “Hunh! May 10 doesn’t seem to be in here.”

  “What does that mean? You only keep records for certain days?”

  “No, no. I think I know what happened. Let me check with Joel.” He called over to a paunchy, balding guy with light blue, framed glasses. “Hey, Joel. Do you remember if May 10 was one of our federal audit days?”

  Joel rolled his chair out from his desk and adjusted his glasses.

  “Uh. May 10. Yeah. That sounds like one of the dates. I’ll look.”

  “Federal audit days? What’s that?” Cooper asked.

  “Here it is. May 10.” Joel adjusted his glasses again. “Oh, the Feds come in once a month or so. Like a surprise inspection. They take some recordings and interview some of the employees. They call it random sampling, to watch for anything suspicious and keep up with our procedures. The Video Monitor Safety Act passed after the ATC revamped the whole travelport for pop travel. We made a deal with the government guys not to be connected to the Qnet in the interest of national security. Surprise federal audits are their way of keeping tabs on us.” Joel spouted with an air of authority, like he was the man in charge. He rubbed the faint stubble on his chin when he spoke, then adjusted his glasses again. A tell, making Cooper suspect he either had OCD, or he might have something to hide.

  “Any backups?”

  “They take those, too,” said Joel.

  “But Audrey has a stash,” Gordy said and elbowed Cooper.

  “She does?” Joel asked, raising his eyebrows. The guy reminded Cooper of the late, great Elton John as he fixed his bright glasses again. They glowed faintly in the dim light.

  Gordy swiveled his chair around. “Yeah. She mentioned it when the Feds were here last time. Those guys weren’t very nice. They even took Audrey’s dataplate for giving them a hard time.”

  “Oh. I remember that day. She was pissed.” Joel nodded.

  “She sure was. That’s when she told me. She said she got them. Said she kept some backups hidden. ‘Never trust the Feds,’ she said. We should ask her. Do you know where she is, Joel?”

  “I think she is checking a platform on Concourse C.”

  “Let’s see if we can get her to show us the goods.” Gordy gave Cooper a mischievous grin. He called his supervisor by pushing the comlink speaker button on his desk and saying her name.

  “Baumer,” she answered.

  “Hey, boss. Gordy here.”

  “Whatcha need, Gordo?”

  “Well, I have an investigator here who wants to see if we have any backup files for May 10.”

  “Tell him to take a hike.” Gordy laughed silently at her reaction. Then furrowed his brow like he was hurt.

  “Hold on, now. He’s that old college buddy of mine I told you about. The attorney. But now he’s a private detective and he’s working for a guy who wants to sue his wife’s company. The guy thinks his wife ran off with a co-worker and is blaming the company for helping them get away.” Gordy winked at Cooper.

  “Is it that guy you have a man crush on? The mysterious Coop the Snoop?”

  Cooper turned away to hide his smirk.

  Gordy lit up, red-faced. “No! I mean, it is. But no, I don’t! And it’s Coop the Scoop.”

  “Hmm. But it’s Coop the Snoop now, right? Well, the story sounds like a good one. I guess I can see what I have. Meet me in my office. I need to stop by my locker, first. Give me fifteen minutes. And Gordy…” She paused.

  “Yes, Miss Audrey?”

  “Don’t leave your monitors unattended.”

  “Of course not. We’ll see you upstairs,” he said and signed off.

  After calling another guard to cover for him, Gordy led Cooper out of the Security office and they headed for the elevators.

  “Hey, Coop. Wanna grab a sandwich or something? We have a few minutes to stop in the Atrium before we go up. I’m starved.” He rubbed his stomach and smelled the air with a big smile. The aromas of grilled burgers and spicy tacos grew stronger as they reached the elevator.

  “No thanks. I had a late breakfast. I’m glad your boss might be able to help. This guy really wants to find his wife.” Cooper hoped the footage would give a simple explanation to the disappearances, but he doubted it. Nothing in life was simple.

  “Glad we can oblige. I’m sure Audrey will do all she can. She’s a great gal.”

  udrey signed off the maintenance check for Transmission Gate C19. All twenty-four docks on the fluorescent-lit, hexagonal floor met the rigid requirements. She nodded to the pop travel technician standing at his terminal and the anesthesiologist at the medical station, to let them know they were ready to go.

  As she weaved between travelers, she checked off completed chores on her new dataplate. Audrey’s to-do list kept her busy. She never reached the bottom and there were always more tasks popping up to add to it. After looking it over one more time, she hugged the plate to her chest and concentrated on getting to her locker.

  The list kept her mind off the accidents. Knowing about them ate at her soul. And now, with the new security measures and protocol in place to stop the docks from opening when an accident happened, she was the only one left at the travelport who knew the truth. This detour with Gordy and his friend put her behind schedule, but it gave her hope of a way to get out of the messy situation. When the Feds last spoke to her and confiscated her old plate, they made it clear they would not stand for any interference. They warned her they were watching her. And ever since their warning, she wondered if any of her employees were undercover agents. But the su
its’ bullying only made her more determined to stop them. She just didn’t know how.

  Audrey shifted her already swift pace up a notch as she walked down the wide causeway toward the center of Concourse C, her ponytail swaying behind her. She had backups all right. Those conniving Feds needed to go down! An unwilling accomplice, she hated helping them cover up the deaths, but had no choice. They made it clear, anyone who slipped up would be putting themselves in danger. Just holding onto the extra backups, she risked her life, even though she had no idea what she could do with them. She had no powerful connections and she couldn’t pass the information on to anyone with the Feds stalking her. And posting them on the government-monitored Qnet would come to the same result, with her dead and no resolution. Audrey grasped at the hope Gordy’s friend would be able to help her expose her evidence somehow.

  At the top of the escalator, Audrey paused a moment to let some travelers go down ahead of her, putting on her courteous smile, and tucked a strand of dirty blonde hair behind her ear. After checking the time on her QV, she lowered her eyes and descended.

  Hurrying down the hall, Audrey ignored the co-workers she passed. With each step, she convinced herself this Cooper person could be the answer. She seemed to remember Gordy saying Cooper’s brother was a politician. That could be helpful, too. What a relief it would be to share the information with someone.

  As she slipped into the coed, supervisors’ locker room, the lights blinked on, telling her it had been empty. She went straight to her locker and pressed her open hand on the lockpad. The release clicked. As she reached to open it, her head jerked at a noise. She got a chill.

  “Hello?” she called. After sitting deathly still and listening for a gut-wrenching minute, she blamed the sound on her nervous imagination. She rustled up some courage. Even if the FBI had undercover eyes at the ATC, she reigned over her turf. After this meeting, she’d find out if one of her staff helped the fiends spy on her and scrounge up a reason to fire the sneak.

  Audrey took a deep breath and opened the locker. Leaning in, she shoved her things around. After sifting through her tiny stash, she found the stick drive she needed and straightened up to leave, slipping it into her pants pocket.

  She smacked her neck. Something had pricked her. Holding the sore spot on her neck, she spun around. A bug? Not likely, but she didn’t have time to worry about it, she had to go. She reached down for her plate, and when she stood up, she felt woozy, and wavered, flailing her arms to steady herself. She swung at the locker door to shut it, but it didn’t quite catch. Struggling to keep her balance, she headed for the exit.

  Gordy and Cooper made themselves comfortable waiting for Audrey in her office. Gordy lounged back in Audrey’s chair and played with an antique Rubik’s cube he’d found on her desk. Cooper paced the office, pausing at the wall hangings and pictures to get a feel for Audrey’s personality. What would make her hide backup copies of surveillance? Why would the FBI be confiscating them?

  Audrey had a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and several framed commendations for community service and volunteer projects. So she was smart and had a good heart. He noticed a picture of a tall, sturdy, blonde woman and a German Shepherd on a bookshelf. He showed it to Gordy.

  “Is this Audrey?”

  “Yeah and that’s her dog, Shultzie. He’s her baby.”

  “Is she married?”

  “Not anymore. Her husband died in the Tex-Mex War.”

  Cooper nodded. He empathized with her, knowing how it felt to lose a spouse so young. Maybe he should get a dog. He went over and studied a map of the ATC.

  Gordy gave up on the cube and put it back on its display stand.

  “So where have you planted your roots, Coop?” he asked.

  “Walnut Grove,” Cooper answered. He stayed focused on the map and the locker room’s location, on the basement level just before the trains.

  “Where is that?” Gordy asked, lacing his hands behind his head.

  “It’s a small town east of the city.” Cooper tried not to sound annoyed. He checked his QV. According to the map, ample time had passed for Audrey to go to her locker and meet them in her office.

  “Oh. Hicksville, eh? I like living in the city. My wife, Gayla… hey, did you know I got married? It was three years ago. I tried to invite you but no one knew where you were.”

  “I went back to Michigan for a while. You know, I think it’s been more than fifteen minutes.”

  Gordy looked at his QV.

  “Maybe it has. You think she had to use the restroom?”

  “I doubt it. This doesn’t feel right.”

  “Want me to call her?”

  “Yes.”

  Gordy tried her on the comlink in his ear.

  “She’s not responding,” he said after a few tries.

  “Talk to Security. See if they can locate her.”

  Gordy stood up as he called the Security room.

  “Joel… Yeah, it’s Gordy. Listen, have Trey check the supervisor locker room feed… No, we’re looking for her…” He waited a minute and listened to Joel’s response. His eyes narrowed. “Really? Okay, hold on.”

  He turned to Cooper. “They rewound the video. Joel said Audrey went to her locker and got something ten minutes ago. He watched it twice because he said she stumbled around like a drunk when she left.”

  “Is that normal?” Cooper had a stinking suspicion his client’s paranoia was about to be justified.

  “No.” Gordy shook his head with emphasis and frowned.

  “Let’s go.”

  Gordy picked up another comlink headset from the charging station on Audrey’s shelf and tossed it to Cooper. They bolted out of the office and raced down the stairs. While they ran, Gordy told Joel to check the video outside the locker room to see if it showed what happened to Audrey. Then he made an announcement to the rest of Security to be on the lookout for her. Cooper hoped they would find her safe and sound, but doubted she’d still have any backup videos.

  When they reached the locker room, Gordy put his hand up to Cooper to have him wait. They listened to an update from Joel.

  “We looked at footage from the hall,” Joel said and Gordy pointed out the camera. “It looks like Audrey stumbled out of the locker room. A custodian walking by helped her and led her into the maintenance corridor.”

  “This door?” Cooper pointed at a nearby door with a Personnel Only sign, a card reader, and a simple code lock.

  “Yeah.” Gordy used his badge and punched in numbers to open the door. The lights flickered on when they entered the cinderblock passageway. To their left, the hall spanned about eight feet wide. On the right, two men walking side by side would be a tight fit and it was pitch black.

  “Are there cameras in here?” he asked.

  Gordy nodded.

  “Yes, but not very many.”

  Joel reported that a few minutes ago, maintenance reported the fuse for the small passageway to the trains had blown, so that’s why the lights were out.

  Gordy’s frown deepened.

  Cooper’s heart rate sped up, anxious to find Audrey, afraid of what he suspected.

  “You head for the trains. I’ll go back into the main aisle. Check in at each Concourse.”

  Gordy gave a nod and turned on his QV flashlight.

  Cooper hurried back through the door and joined the throng of travelers making their way to and from the gates and the terminal.

  Pushing past travelers, he kept an eye out for Audrey’s face. If someone kidnapped her, he might be trying to smuggle her out with the crowd. At Concourse A, he ran over to the glass doors to scan the electric train tracks and saw Gordy open the small maintenance door.

  “Clear,” Gordy said in Cooper’s earpiece.

  “No sign of her here, either,” Cooper answered.

  Cooper took off jogging again, slaloming through travelers, bumping into a large woman who dropped her bag. He couldn’t stop. His gut told him he needed to move faster. As he ap
proached Concourse B, he slowed, still hoping to identify Audrey in the crowd. Maybe she fought her way free, and he could help her. The trains had just pulled in. Passengers entered and exited in a confused congestion. As travelers clogged the escalators going up, Cooper, on tiptoes, desperately searched the masses. Grabbing the shoulder of a tall blonde, he quickly let go when it wasn’t Audrey’s face, and the lady glared at him. He checked in with Joel and Gordy.

  “Nothing at Concourse B. How ‘bout the trains?”

  “She’s not on any of them,” said Joel. “Where could she be?”

  “Not here either. And this train is headed for Concourse A.” Gordy sounded out of breath on his way to the next door.

  Cooper jumped back into action and continued his watchful dash to the next stop at Concourse C.

  As he closed in on the waiting area, he heard a piercing scream and his heart dropped.

  He fought his way through a distraught crowd gathered at the glass doors protecting the public from the high-voltage electric train tracks. As Cooper pushed his way to the front, he saw Gordy on the opposite ledge staring down, his jaw dangling in shock. Cooper sagged as he recognized the mangled body of Audrey Baumer sprawled on the tracks.

  ederal investigators and emergency personnel invaded Concourse C. Cooper and Gordy and a few other witnesses were questioned by agents, as ambulance workers carried Audrey’s remains away in a bag, and officers took pictures of the scene. Gordy’s usually ruddy, smiling face looked pale and shaken from the discovery of the distorted form of his boss and friend. It had been a gruesome sight. An agent told Cooper Audrey had been electrocuted before being crushed by the train. Poor woman.

  While Cooper gave his account of what happened, the reason for his visit, where he’d been, etc., he hoped Gordy was smart enough to avoid mentioning anything about the backups. Cooper glanced over at Gordy and shook his head sadly. The agent took Cooper’s account and his number, telling him to be available for possible further questioning.