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Jack jabbed a finger down at a satellite photo. “This satellite is doing a fly over above the Monte Verde Cloud Forest in northern Costa Rica. Look at this,” and he traced an oval area cut out of the surrounding canopy jungle. Down below was a man flying a white bird.
Cal’s eyes narrowed. The man’s back was toward the satellite photo, making it impossible to identify him. A white raptor was lifting off his gloved hand. There was another man, standing back and to the side of him. “Can you enlarge the photo on that bird?”
Jack hit a key stroke several times and the bird came up in detail.
Lauren gasped, gripping Jack’s shoulder. “My God,” she whispered, leaning down, looking closely, “that’s a White Hawk!”
“But we cannot see who the man is,” Alex said, frowning.
“Jack, get me the GPS coordinates on this meadow?” Lauren said, quickly straightening. “Send them to my computer? I want to compare this place with where the burner phone calls were originating from.”
Cal tried to remain calm. “Do it,” he ordered them.
Alex stepped back so that Lauren could extricate herself from the group. She quickly walked out of the room, heading for the other office. “That is a White Hawk.” He saw the hope suddenly flare in Cal’s eyes. “Whoever is flying that raptor is a falconer.”
“None of those tourist resorts at Arenal had a falconer or hawks. We called every one of them,” Jack pointed out.
“You’re right,” Cal murmured. He looked up and saw Lauren returning, triumph on her face. “What did you find out?”
“Bingo!” Lauren crowed, laptop under her arm. “The meadow GPS coordinates are within three hundred yards of where all those burner phone calls were made from.” She came around and opened up her laptop to show them.
“So?” Jack wondered out loud, “this isn’t a resort? Or is it?”
“No,” Lauren said, her voice a rasp, excitement underlying her husky tone as she brought up the diagram showing the location of the cell phone calls and the meadow. “Not a resort. I don’t know what it is yet. We’re going to have to do some more investigation on it.”
“I’ll get on it,” Alex volunteered.
Cal sat there, feeling restless, hoping against hope that they had really found some intel that would lead them to Sky. This was the first piece of possible evidence.
An hour later, Lauren and Alex returned. She sat down with her laptop and a satellite map from Google. Turning it toward Cal, she said, “This is a villa owned by someone. Don’t know who, yet, but look: you can see the villa beneath the trees and then the oval meadow north of it.”
“A single residence,” Alex told Cal.
Jack Driscoll walked over, craning a look across Cal’s shoulder and studying the Google map. “I can barely see the villa. That damned triple canopy is pretty much hiding it from everyone. Any chance of getting infrared readout in the villa?”
“Yes,” Lauren said. “But the canopy cover prevents us from detailed identification. A cow could be a human, or vice-versa, unfortunately.”
Cal sat back. “Okay, but this is such a long shot. We have a fertility doctor in San Jose and the calls originating from this villa. We have a White Hawk.” Cal looked over at Alex. “The ONLY thread connecting these disparate pieces of intel is the White Hawk.”
Alex gave Cal a pleading look. “My hunch tells me this is where Alexandrov has a hidden villa. It is in a cloud forest. He is a falconer. He favors the White Hawk. We have just seen a photo of a man with a White Hawk. Those are more than just pieces of intel. They are like pearls stringing together to create a necklace.”
Lauren looked up. “You’re a romantic, Kazak.”
He grinned shyly. “No. I just see things in visual symbols sometimes, is all.” The look on Lauren’s face made him feel good. Her usual icy green gaze had thawed, as though she realized there was more to him than just being an operator. THAT made him feel even better.
Cal’s mouth thinned. He gave Lauren an intent look. “You and I are going to catch the fastest flight down to San Jose and drop in on this doctor.” He looked at Alex and Jack. “You two stay here, keep getting sat photos and comms on that villa while we’re gone. Do some tracing on the owner. Also, reach out to the CIA agent down there in San Jose. I want that spook to give us and any logistics and assets he’s got or knows about in case we do find Sky there.”
Lauren nodded. “You and I will pose as husband and wife?”
Cal stood up. “Yeah.” He gave Alex an apologetic look. “Sorry, but I’m going instead of you. If Sky’s down there, I want to know and I want to be on the ground.”
Alex swallowed his disappointment. It would have been good to be alone with Lauren, and hopefully, to get to know her a bit better. “It is a good plan,” he agreed with Cal. He thought Lauren looked utterly relieved that Cal was going instead of him. It hurt, but Alex was a team player, and this was about finding Sky, not his personal issues with Lauren.
Lauren typed in some info. She grinned. “Guess what? There’s an American Airlines flight to San Jose, Costa Rica in eight hours out of Lindbergh International Airport in San Diego. We make a stop in Miami, Florida, change planes, and leave an hour and a half later for the capitol.”
“Book us,” Cal ordered, standing up. Hope flowed strongly through him. He desperately wanted something to turn up, to prove Sky was at the villa. It was such a long shot. But it’s all they had right now. He loved her, he ached to hear her voice, see her smile, and watch those blue eyes of hers sparkle. Rubbing his chest, he muttered, “Get us first class tickets.”
“I’ve got fake passports and ID’s already,” Jack said. “You’ll have the cover you need. I’ll get busy acquiring them,” and he turned, going back to his laptop. His company worked with the U.S. government, and they produced passports and other documents for his undercover operators.
