“Interesting thoughts, Jim.” Aaron said. “Maybe version 2 of the technology has arrived. As you can imagine, the type of technology in question could have military implications. We would like to secure the technology for our national interest and safety.”
“I can understand that,” Marshall said.
“We believe the technology uses GPS coordinates, so there needed to be input provided for the prisoner to escape. The device needed to know where Lucas was. We believe that someone in this prison provided those GPS coordinates.”
“Aren’t coordinates easy to find out?” Jim asked.
“To an extent. You can find the GPS for the prison, for example, but the GPS for the man’s prison cell is completely a different matter. It’s a much more precise reading. Someone took a reading and gave it to the person who executed the escape.”
“Is there any other way the technology could work?” Marshall asked.
“There are, but they’re military based and use powerful computer resources. We don’t believe we’re dealing with someone who can access such resources.”
“Okay, then. Sounds like we need to have a chat with the staff who were rostered on at the time of the escape,” Jim said.
“Yes, we’ll need to do that. The technology has been dormant for some years, and now it’s resurfaced we need to get our hands on it before it gets in to the wrong hands.”
“Wrong hands?” Marshall asked, eyebrows raised.
“Yep, we believe the man who has it at the moment is not a threat to our country, but someone else may be.”
“Someone else?” Marshall asked.
“Don’t think he needs to spell that out, Steve,” the superintended said.
“No, you’re right. Stupid question. Don’t know what I was thinking,” Marshall said.
Aaron felt for Marshall, it was obviously a stressful morning.
<°)))><
Marshall’s phone rang.
Marshall looked at his phone and accepted the call.
“Hi, Gina.”
Aaron looked up at the monitor and stared at the link diagram. It was all so familiar to him.
“Yep, hold on a sec. I’m going to put you on loudspeaker.” Marshall muted his smartphone. “Gents, it’s Gina from reception. She’s got a strange call. It’s from someone who says they’re a prisoner but have escaped and they really wanted to talk to someone. He says he’s Lucas Fell. He’s being quite persistent. Let’s hear what he has to say.”
Marshall placed his phone in loud speaker mode.
“Hello, Steve Marshall speaking”
“Hi, this is Lucas Fell, I didn’t mean to escape. I was—“
The line went dead.
Aaron leant forward. “Your theory might be right, Jim. Maybe he was taken against his will.
The Professor—at least I hope it’s the Professor—wanted Lucas for some reason.”
9 – Get me back there
LUCAS WAS CONFUSED. What was Starkey up to? Whatever it was, it was just not worth the risk. He’d been left alone and decided he needed to do something. A door closed. Lucas stared at the screen on the phone. A call terminated message displayed. He’d only got a few words out.
“Now, Lucas, what are you doing?” Starkey stood with a smartphone in his hand. Shopping bags had been placed on the table. “Sorry to interrupt your call, but I didn’t have a good feeling about what you were up to. The good thing is they can’t trace it due to some nifty blocking equipment I’ve set up. Could you put it back in the cradle? Thanks.”
Lucas did as he was told. “I’m confused, Starkey. I’ve been off the drugs for a long time and I’m thinking differently. Back in those days, with you and the people vanishing stuff, I was just a crazy, angry, confused man.”
“And you’re confused again, as you say.”
“Huh?”
“You said you’re as confused now as you were back then too.”
“It’s a different confusion. I need to get back there. The longer I’m away, the worse it’s going to get.”
A beeping noise caught Lucas’s attention. He looked at the phone on the cradle. A message displayed on the digital screen: Isabella calling.
“You need to pay attention to this.” Starkey said, tapping his smartphone.
<°)))><
Lucas rubbed his head and decided prison was stress free, and he needed to get back there.
A cute oval shaped face with longish deep brown hair brushed neatly to the sides appeared on the phone’s digital screen. Her deep-set brown eyes gave a hint of mystery although she looked worn out. Even so, she had still made an effort with her appearance. A small silver cross hung from her neck.
