“His flight was supposed to land at one-oh-five this morning. Perhaps it was delayed. Let me check.” Ryder knew the flight landed, but would verify.
“I have a meeting with the director in ten, so Costa’s going to have to sit and wait until I’m done.”
Tony hung up before Ryder disconnected the call. He went to his desk and immediately looked up Matt’s flight information—it had been on time. Then he called Matt’s cell phone; he didn’t answer so Ryder left a message, then texted him. He called Matt’s house phone; that, too, went to voicemail.
His stomach tightened. Something was wrong. But he continued making calls.
Kara didn’t answer her cell phone. Ryder left a message. She also hadn’t responded to his earlier text message. He sent another with an urgent flag. Nothing.
He then reached out to the government liaison for the airline. After being transferred twice, he learned that neither Matt nor Kara had checked in or boarded their flight. They also hadn’t canceled.
His bad feeling darkened. Something had happened to his boss. Never had Matt not been reachable without letting Ryder know where he was going and when he would be in contact again.
Catherine approached his desk. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t reach Matt and he missed his meeting with Greer.”
She frowned. “I swear, Kara brings out the worst in him. Are they at her place?”
Ryder bristled. He didn’t like the tension between Catherine and Kara. They’d been getting along, more or less, for the lasttwo months, but Catherine would dig at Kara whenever she found an opportunity.
If Matt had missed his flight, he would have called Ryder. Ever since the MRT was commissioned seventeen months ago, Matt had been diligent in keeping Ryder in the loop.
“Matt and Kara stayed in Florida for the weekend,” he said.
“For shit’s sake,” Catherine mumbled. “I should have figured that when he canceled long-standing plans with Chris and me this weekend—by text.”
“It was a stressful case,” Ryder said, though he didn’t know why he was trying to justify anything to Catherine. Matt and Kara weren’t on duty this weekend, there was no reason they couldn’t stay in Florida.
“They got to play newlyweds for a week, I think they had enough fun and games,” she snapped. “We have a lot of work to do today, especially since the case against Reid is tenuous.”
Ryder said, “I’m going to call the resort.”
Catherine walked out, but he didn’t breathe easier.
He called the resort and asked for Brian Valdez, the head of security. He already had a relationship with the man since Ryder had coordinated the MRT’s undercover investigation with the resort.
“Agent Kim. How are you? We still can’t believe it was one of our people. The sheriff’s office has been all over the place this weekend. But we’re relieved that an arrest has been made.”
“I haven’t been able to reach Agent Costa and Detective Quinn. They had a flight out yesterday evening, but can you please check to see if they stayed another night?”
“Sure, give me a minute.” He put Ryder on hold.
It was eight minutes before Valdez came back on the line. “Agent Costa didn’t check out. I spoke with housekeeping and they bypassed the room because of a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. It’s still there.”
“Will you please go down and check personally?”
“I’ll call you back.”
Ryder wanted to call in an alert immediately, but until he had more information from the resort, it would be premature.
He didn’t go back to the conference room because he didn’t have answers. He was worried, but there could be a logical explanation. Technology failed. One or both of them could have taken ill. There could have been an accident.
But Ryder couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong.
Valdez called him back ten minutes later.
“Agent Kim, I entered the room after identifying myself. No one is there, though their personal items are, including three firearms and two knives in the nightstand drawers. Two badges are on the desk—one federal, one an LAPD detective’s shield. I’m reviewing security footage now to determine when they left, but no one on staff has seen them this morning.”
