Page 81 of Avenging Angel

“Ten times faster than a blink of an eye,” Jerry responds. “At least that’s what Emily’s paper says. In one second, almost 80 images can be cataloged, stored, and processed. We’re not just talking about an image of an apple on a table. We’re talking about information down to the finest detail like the grain of the wood in the table. Irrelevant information is moved to the subconscious to be processed later. One example Emily uses is a dream state where a person you’ve never seen before in your life plays a significant role in that dream. But in fact, you have seen them. Maybe they were mowing a lawn and you caught a glimpse of their face as you drove by. Or they passed you in a supermarket.”

“You’re talking about subliminal messaging,” Bennett says. “That’s nothing new.”

“No, it’s not,” Jerry says. “Emily proposed that teens who survived traumatic events in their youth could still recover by having those memories not only suppressed but replaced with new memories that come from a repeated process of subliminal imaging. She also proposed that extreme cases may require methaqualone, a drug that acts as a sedative and hypnotic. In some instances, even a state of euphoria.”

Daisy shakes her head as if the thought doesn’t sit well. “That doesn’t make any sense. The girls who have been abducted so far have come from all walks of life and taken from their families. While some may have suffered some form of trauma, there was no guarantee of that.”

Owen raises his hand to divert our attention to himself. “I have a theory for that, but that’s all it is; a theory.”

“Go ahead,” Roger says. “Nothing is out of the realm of possibility.”

“What if Dominion got hold of her capstone paper and changed the scope of the project?”

Jerry gives us another piece of information. “I hadn’t got to that part yet, but you should know that Emily Bloom was offered a position at Dominion, set to start post-graduation, and a grant to fund her research and pay for her Master’s degree.”

Owen absorbs the new information. “That makes my theory more plausible. Dominion Atrix Group is creating puppets by brainwashing these girls and strategically aligning them with men who are poised to be in positions of power, or those who have become a prominent voice in the political arena. They used Emily’s project to create a cell of honeypots, whispering in the men’s ears to guide actions, sway votes, or elicit material for blackmail to be used when beneficial.”

Bennett scoffs. “That’s a pretty wild theory. How does one go from a project in behavioral cognitive therapy to something as far-fetched as global puppet-mastering?”

“Emily’s death,” Owen says bluntly. “Her research project was meant to overwrite a person’s mental code for the purpose of erasing trauma. While unethical on several levels, it’s still with good intentions. According to Kenneth, Eva’s story outlines exactly what Dominion does to the girls. It sounds an awful lot like Emily’s work but for more nefarious purposes; only Emily wasn’t going to go along with it. Maybe she jumped off that cliff because she knew what her work would be used for and couldn’t handle the guilt, or someone pushed her. Like I said, it’s just a theory.”

“Brad Callahan,” Bennett says. “He worked for Dominion under two names and was present at the time of her death. Alibi or not, he’s the guilty party. After all, alibis can be bought.”

“Well, while you figure it out, I have a plane to catch,” Jerry says. “I’m headed to Colorado Springs to meet with a woman named Tonya Petras.”

“Who’s Tonya?” I ask.

“I was tracking down Logan’s former classmates and spoke to Tonya. As it turns out, she was Logan’s high school girlfriend. She told me that her photos from that time in her life and her yearbook are in a storage unit full of junk. She isn’t going to spend hours trying to find them for me, but she said I could sift through the boxes if I were so inclined. I’m on my way to find out who Logan Bloom really is. I should have an answer for you in the next 12 hours.”

Almost as soon as Jerry hangs up, the computer beeps to notify Owen that the encryption on the phone has been broken. He puts on a pair of latex gloves before picking it up and searching the device.

“There is only one message, which is better than nothing.”

“That can’t be right,” I say.

Owen frowns. “It can. If the messages were set to disappear after opening, then they’re gone for good. The Signal app doesn’t keep a copy on its server as a backup, so there’s nothing for me to hack. That’s what makes it such an effective tool to evade surveillance.”

After Owen looks at the message and then types something on his computer, a map appears on the screen with a red dot. Owen zooms in and says, “The reason why this one is still on the phone is because Brad sent the message to himself. Odd. They’re coordinates for the west entrance to the mines.”

“Why would he send a message to himself?” Daisy asks.

It’s a good question, and I can only think of one reason for it. “For reference, so that it doesn’t get deleted.”

“Or it’s a trap,” Bennett says.

I walk over and look at the image on the screen. “Pull up the location where Brad hid the ATV he took from Grants Pass.”

Owen does as I ask, and I point to the map. “He parked three miles north of the campground and then traveled east on foot to the highway. That’s where my family lost his trail.” Then I point to the spot where Genevieve was taken and Daisy was hit with a tranquilizer. “In order to keep his tracks hidden, he would have had to walk on the highway almost four miles: three south and then three east to the road where he had the electric ATV stashed.”

“Where are you going with this, Angel?” Daisy asks.

“It doesn’t make sense to me. Why not just use the highway for the first ATV that he stole to reach the second one? Why go through the trouble of hiking? Brad would have had to spend at least an hour, if not two, walking on a road where he would have risked getting caught. We still would have lost his trail here,” I say, pointing to the location where my family had to spread out their search.

“He’s not working alone, which we already suspected,” Daisy says as she heads over to the wall where a topographical map is pinned. “The mines are ten miles to the west of our current location, which would be roughly 13-15 miles on foot if Brad headed south and then turned westward to go to the coordinates. On a known hiking trail, that alone can take four to five hours. But if he stayed off trail, moving slowly over rough terrain to cover his tracks and navigate downed trees, then we’re talking no more than one mile per hour. And with him carrying a week’s worth of supplies and water for two people? Definitely no more than that, even for an experienced hiker like Brad.”

Scott says, “I concur with that assessment. It’s been 18 hours since the abduction, with only 14 hours of daylight. The darkness would have slowed him down because using a flashlight would have been like shining a beacon. Based on the timing, it’s likely he’s already at the mines, or he will be shortly.”

Bennett holds up his hands and waves them around. “Rather than making assumptions, why don’t you just fly your drone over the area and see if there’s an electric ATV parked near the entrance? That should answer your question of whether or not Brad Callahan is working alone. You said it yourself, all the evidence points to Brad. He has motive, means, and opportunity. This Logan guy you’re looking for is a ghost.”