Castle in the Desert Read online

  But not today.

  Toby arrived at the door. He looked at the number pad, his finger hovering over the button that would let Tara know someone wanted to see her. Toby knew his presence would not be welcome as he took a deep breath and pushed the button.

  Nothing happened.

  He pushed it again.

  Silence from the other side of the door.

  Toby pressed the button a third time.

  Tara’s voice erupted from the small speaker in the number pad.

  “Go the fuck away,” said the angry voice in the small speaker.

  Toby pressed the button a fourth time.

  A few moments later, the door slid open. Standing barely five feet tall, the small woman glared at Toby through her tangles of long, black hair. As always, Tara was dressed in her black tactical pants and wore heavy tactical boots. The only other color was the bold, white letters that covered the front of her black T-shirt. Tara’s favorite word appeared no less than three times on shirt’s message.

  “What do you want?” said Tara curtly.

  “I’m here to take a look at what you’ve come up with,” said Toby.

  “When I’ve got something to share, I’ll make sure you’re the first to know. Now leave me the fuck alone,” growled Tara.

  As she turned to leave, the door began closing. Toby reached out and touched the door, causing it to slide back open.

  “Sorry. I’ve got my orders from my boss, who got his orders from his boss. For all I know, she got her orders from the top boss,” said Toby.

  Tara stopped in her tracks. Toby could see her slightly shaking her head from side to side. He could see her taking a few deep breaths too.

  “I know I’m not welcome,” began Toby. “But they’re all thinking that maybe a fresh pair of nerdy eyes might turn up something new.”

  He saw Tara shake her head from side to side again. She took another breath, then nodded her head up and down once. After one more deep breath, she started walking to her computer desk and sat down. Looking up, Tara snapped her fingers as she pointed to a stool next to her. Looking like a lamb being shown to a dinner table with a wolf, Toby entered Tara’s workshop and sat down.

  “What do you want to see?” asked Tara.

  “Everything,” said Toby. “Just start from the beginning.”

  Tara looked back at the screen. She nodded a few times, then began explaining what had happened from the moment she returned to her workshop in The Castle.

  Each day, a movie file shot from a camera with a fish-eye lens overlooking Léa’s prison cell was uploaded to an anonymous f.t.p. site on the internet. The movie file was time compressed, compacting the video from 24-hours into less than ten minutes.

  Tara explained how she tried to back-track the movie file with the hope of finding its origin. But all the meta-data had been completely stripped from each file. Tara also tried to back-track the owner of the f.t.p. site. But the server was from none other than the BBC. Entry to that secure site appeared to have been with a hacked password.

  Next, Tara explained how she would scour each frame of the movie file looking for clues. The camera never moved. Léa would spend most of the day sitting on a small mattress on the floor with her knees tucked under her chin. She would get up just two times each day. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

  “How do you know it’s morning?” asked Toby.

  Tara reached for her mouse and clicked a spot on her computer’s desktop. There were now seven files. She choose the most recent movie file. After scrubbing about a third of the way into the movie, she hit play. Toby could clearly see the bright light of the sun track across the floor of Léa’s cell.

  As the movie played, Tara and Toby watched as Léa remained seated with her back up against the stone wall. Just over halfway through the movie file, Léa got up and shuffled over to the prison style toilet and sink. The heavy chain linking her ankles dragged along the stone floor loud enough to be picked up by the camera’s microphone. Léa leaned over the sink for a drink of water, then turned toward the cell’s window.

  As Léa stood in the center of the cell, she brought her cuffed hands up to her face and wiped her eyes. The torn T-shirt fell off one of her bruised shoulders. As soon as she raised her hands, she let them fall heavily back down in front of her.

  “Play that again,” said Toby.

  He leaned closer to the screen and Tara scrubbed the video back and hit play again. Toby’s eyes were inches from the screen. Before he thought about the impact of his words, he opened his mouth.

  “She’s hot,” he said.

  The next thing Toby felt was Tara grabbing him by the collar, pulling him back onto his stool. The next thing he saw was Tara’s sky blue eyes blazing with fury. Several tangled strands of black hair hung in front of her eyes. But not enough to shield Toby from the pure rage that burned in those eyes. Before Tara could say a word, Toby heard himself begin to speak.

  “Back off right now,” he growled.

  The strength in Toby’s voice surprised them both. Tara sat back down on her stool.

  “I meant she is physically hot. As in temperature,” scowled Toby.

  He pointed to the screen. His finger left a print right over the spot where Léa’s torn T-shirt revealed her shoulder and upper arm. A thick sheen glowed from her pale skin.

  “She’s sweating. A lot,” said Toby. “That means either they have the heat in her cell turned way up. Or, she’s being held in a hot region of the world.”

  Tara looked at the normally meek young man a few more moments before glancing back at the screen. She moved her face closer and sure enough, Léa’s face, neck and shoulders were covered with sweat. Tara looked back at Toby. The fire in her sky blue eyes visibly mellowed.

  “I think you’re on to something,” she finally said.

  After a few moments of staring at the still frame of the video, Tara sat back down on her stool. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Tara knew she had unfairly lashed out at Toby. Still, it wasn’t the first time Tara had to listen to some guy comment on Léa’s looks. Most of the time, it was just some pig drooling over her best friend. But the kid sitting next to her clearly wasn’t like that. Tara had over-reacted and an apology was due. Tara just hated having to apologize for anything.

  Without moving a muscle, Toby sat on his stool barely breathing. When his boss gave him the assignment to check up on Tara and maybe even try to help her along, Thomas Austin warned the kid about her prickly personality. He predicted a blow up would probably happen within minutes of his arrival. His boss even predicted the icy welcome he received at the door. Then, Toby’s boss told him exactly how to handle himself. It was a simple strategy playing out in Tara’s computer lab at that very moment.

  The seconds slowly ticked by.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Toby could hear Tara take a deep breath. In the reflection of the computer monitor, he saw her close her eyes and quickly snap her head once to each side.

  “She’s clearing the cobwebs,” thought Toby.

  His boss told him about Léa’s habit of doing the same thing. It was one of her endearing personality tics that everyone who met Léa noticed. Thomas told Toby that sometimes Tara did the same thing. His instructions to his assistant were clear.

  “After she blows up, just sit there and don't say a word. It’ll take a minute or two, then she’ll clear the cobwebs and you’ll know it’s over. Just stay quiet and let her re-start the conversation,” his boss advised.

  Toby allowed himself to take a slightly bigger breath after he saw Tara’s head snap from side to side. It was just as his boss predicted. So Toby stayed silent. But Tara didn’t say a word. They continued to sit in silence. Toby looked again at Tara’s reflection in the monitor. Just as he was examining her reflection, Toby was startled to see Tara doing the same thing. After a few moments, he saw Tara’s slightly smirky, half smile appear on one corner of her mouth. He smiled back.

  “You’re pretty sly,” said Tara.

  She reached for her mouse and began pointing and clicking. Toby watched her open all of the movie files from Léa’s prison cell. But his head was spinning. No one would ever use the word sly to describe him. He took a breath, about to speak.

  “I know you’re here to help. That was a great catch about the cell’s temperature. Let’s look at all the movies together. Maybe we can catch something else,” said Tara.

  She opened the first movie, turned up the computer’s speakers and hit play. Toby realized that was as close to an apology as he was likely to get. As he turned his attention to the movie file, Toby decided he was totally okay with that.

  An hour later, they leaned back on their stools. The seven played movie files gave up just two more secrets. The first secret confirmed Toby’s theory that Léa was being held in a hot region of the globe. It was in the third movie when Léa walked to the cell’s window. A gust of wind blew Léa’s heavily matted hair back into her face. The same thing happened in the fifth movie allowing Tara and Toby to conclude that the cell’s window was open to the elements and that the outside temperature really was hot.

  The second secret the movie files gave up didn’t really provide any information. There was a single flash frame on the second, third and sixth movies. The flash of white light was only visible for a second or two and easily missed unless you were closely examining each frame. Silence returned to Tara’s workshop as the last movie stopped playing.

  After a few minutes of staring at the blank screen, Tara got up and poured two mugs of steaming, black coffee. Handing one to Toby, she walked over to one of the many monitors that lined the walls of her workshop. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her iPhone and started a playlist of music. Several screens around the roo
m flickered as the video from a metal band from Sweden began playing. But Tara wasn’t watching the high tech video.

  Sipping her coffee, she watched the waves crash at the base of Sentinel Rock from the ocean camera perched high at the top of The Castle. It was the same view that was always on display in the pub. She sipped her coffee and watched the waves. After a few more sips, she turned, leaned up against the wall under the monitor and looked at her guest.

  “You suppose that flash frame is just digital noise?” she speculated.

  “I don't know,” began Toby. “If we hadn’t been going frame by frame, we would have missed it. Suppose whoever sent us the movie missed it too?”

  “Could be. Twenty-four hours of video is a lot of frames. Even time compressed, that’s a lot to look at,” she said.

  “Suppose someone’s face appeared in the cell door window and they just whited out the whole frame?” speculated Toby.

  “Why white out the whole thing? You could blur the window or just cut the frame,” said Tara.

  “There were a few spots on the first two movies that they appeared to cut a few frames,” said Toby.

  “So maybe they missed something?” said Toby.

  “Maybe,” said Tara.

  Toby reached for the mouse, but quickly withdrew his hand. Looking up at Tara, he pointed to the mouse. Tara’s half smile appeared briefly as she nodded. After a few moments of fast pointing and clicking, Toby nodded toward the screen. Tara took another sip of her coffee and looked over Toby’s shoulder.

  “Here are the three flash frames,” he said.

  He enlarged the video, played it in slow motion, even played it backwards. It was just a flash of white light. Tara took another sip of her coffee and looked back at the monitor showing Sentinel Rock.

  It was an unusually nice day. The sun was shining, the sea was calm. The sun was just high enough over the horizon that its warm light twinkled in the small ripples on the water. The metal from the song pulsed through the speakers surrounding Tara’s workshop.

  “I’m like a satellite. Transmitting different eras,” sang Elize Ryd of Amaranthe.

  As Tara watched the sun reflected in the water, suddenly all the air rushed out of her lungs. Her eyes narrowed and focused on the reflected light, twinkling like the lights on a Christmas tree. As her lungs filled with air, she turned and looked at Toby. Her sky blue eyes were blazing with hope and energy.

  “I am the voice of the next generation,” sang Amaranthe.

  “What have you got?” asked Toby excitedly.

  “I’m not sure. It may be nothing,” said Tara.

  “But everything surrounding you is digital,” sang Elize.

  She handed her coffee mug to Toby as one hand reached for the mouse. Her other hand flew over the keyboard as Tara exported each flash frame of video to image files. Each file then opened in PhotoShop. Holding her breath, Tara selected one file and moved her mouse pointer to the app’s brightness, sharpener and contrast sliders. She glanced sideways at Toby.

  “Erase return in the digital world,” sang Amaranthe as the song quickly ended.

  The room grew eerily silent.

  “Moment of truth,” she breathed.

  They both looked at the monitor as Tara slid the brightness and contrast controls. As the mouse moved, Léa’s prison cell emerged from the white flash frame. Tara was holding her breath. The flash of white light was the sun reflecting off the glass in the cell door’s window. Tara and Toby slowly exhaled.

  “Please let there be a clue here,” they both thought to themselves.

  Tara moved the mouse to the sharpener tool and gently slid it to the left and right. As the image sharpened, her eyes focused in like lasers on the window in the cell door. Tilting her head slightly to one side, she move her mouse pointer back to the brightness and contrast sliders. After sliding left and right, Tara’s fingers hovered over the zoom buttons and enlarged the cell door window. A few more tweaks of the sliders, then a click on the sharpener tool was all it took.

  The surge of adrenaline and energy knocked the wind out of both Tara and Toby’s lungs. Feeling dizzy, Tara steadied herself by gripping the edge of the desk as she quickly sat down. She looked down at the keyboard as she forced air back into her lungs. After few breaths, she looked back up at her computer monitor.

  After the first movie arrived, Tara had snagged a still image from the prison cell camera. It was one of the few times Léa had actually looked up at the camera with the fish-eye lens that kept watch over her. The look on her face was the look of despair.

  Tara looked back at the vital clue the freeze frame just gave up. Reflected clearly in the cell’s door window was the view outside of Léa’s prison window. Beyond the bars over the window lay the white sands of a desert and way out on the horizon was a range of four mountains. Two tall mountains on each side of two shorter mountains.

  Tara blinked a few times as she continued to examine the desert and the mountains. She tiled her head slightly to each side, hoping to get a better view through her black tangled hair. After a few moments, she nodded a few times. Looking over at Toby, she nodded back to the monitor. He smiled and nodded.

  Looking back at the monitor, Tara felt a lump of pain and relief building up in her lungs and heart. It slowly rose through her neck and into her brain as a single sob of pain and relief erupted through her nose. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at the still picture of her best friend.

  “I found you,” she said quietly.

  5 WE NEED ANOTHER RABBIT

  Alan Dennis’ Office - 24 Hours Later

  At first, excitement and hope spread through The Castle like a cool wave of sea water splashing ashore. Despite conventional wisdom, good news travels just as fast, if not faster than bad news. The good news reaching every corner of The Castle was exactly what everyone wanted and needed to hear.

  Tara Wells had found Léa Taylor.

  Once they had a location, the various departments around The Castle sprang into action, analyzing everything they could. Climate and environmental specialists immediately put out a report outlining the current conditions, historical anomalies and even an hour-by-hour, ten day forecast. Historical research specialists were next with a quick rundown of the region’s history followed by a second report on the current population and state of political affairs.

  The next report to surface came from the planning specialists at The Castle’s Operations Center. Long before an operation got the go ahead, the planners completed a detailed analysis of the operations area including buildings, water-ways or anything else that might impede or help an operation. At The Castle, it was called the Bird’s Eye View report and it contained the first drop of bad news.

  Once the cool wave of hope splashed ashore, the water stopped and then started flowing back into the sea. Soon after Léa’s whereabouts were discovered, word came down that there was virtually no chance she could be rescued. After a few hours riding the emotional high from learning where Léa was being held, the cold fog of despair returned to every corner of The Castle.

  Alan Dennis’ dark wood paneled office was full of people. Every department head at The Castle arrived for the initial briefing from Operations. Now that all the analysis was complete, it was time to devise a rescue plan. Looking around his office, Alan couldn’t remember a day when he’d ever seen as many people wanting to help. Even the head of Facilities Operations, the guy who kept the lights on at The Castle, was there.

  Normally, an operations planning meeting was by invitation only to the people who needed to know. But since Perry Drilling had hacked The Castle’s internal communications system, all word about Léa’s discovery and plans for her rescue was only circulated on paper or discussed in person. Keeping everyone at The Castle informed about Léa was near the top of Alan’s priority list, so every department head was invited to the meeting. That way, the latest news about Léa could flow through The Castle, keeping rumors to a minimum while making sure not to tip off the bad guys.