Chapter 21: Straight to Pakistan

Or maybe not?

The steel camouflage painted door looked more like a hatch on a Navy ship. It was oblong with a small circular window at head level. A long metal lever lowered to open the door. The hatch was inside a little cut-out hidden by replanted and replaced trees and boulders. A small hand-sized opening revealed the keypad inside.

“This seems like something only a few people would have known about. How did your family get to know so much about this place.”

“As I said, we had people working on the inside. When it was time for the engineers and other professionals to go home, our agents followed them to their home countries. We assume since most of these professionals only worked on specific parts, no one could piece together the whole thing. They all signed non-disclosure contracts. They all understood that their lives and family’s lives were under threat if they said anything.” She glanced over Al's shoulder. Tom and Mike were out in the open talking. She couldn’t hear what they were saying. “Many of these construction workers came from places like the Philippines and Malaysia. It's not surprising how motivating money can be, even considering the consequences. Nearly everyone we talked to agreed to tell us everything they knew for the right price. There were also several different engineers and a lead architect construction engineer. His name was Alex.”

Al caught the halting way she said, Alex. “Uh oh.”

She lifted her head. “Exactly. We knew who he was through several of the workers inside. He was an Englishman born and bred in Hong Kong. He would periodically travel back and forth to Hong Kong to check in with his firm. Later we found out Hotak owned the firm. I went to Hong Kong to gather any information I could from him. One thing led to another, and we fell in love. When he returned from his final trip here, we were going to marry and stay in Hong Kong. The engineers never left. They knew too much, I guess. All of them died in a plane crash except for Alex. He was killed in an auto accident in Hong Kong.” She paused, dropping her head. “That's what the world knew. Hotak took a chance with a hundred and fifty workers who knew only so much. That many people disappearing, who all had something in common, would have got messy. But, five engineers and an architect, that’s a lot easier to explain, and he could always hire more for whatever was next.”

Al looked back. He’d also seen Tom and Mike talking in low tones. There were no angry faces, no jabbing fingers. It was a conversation between friends. Julia and Randall stood beyond them, watching the path they’d come down moments before.

Al suddenly looked up, searching the inside of the hollowed out earth. “It occurs to me that there might be a camera or two observing the door and path.”

“None that I’m aware of.”

Al did a three-sixty, his head up. When he faced Niki again, he scratched his chin. “I don’t see anything, but…”