The Blue Zone

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“Oh, good Lord, no…” Kate shut her eyes, nausea overcoming her. “This can’t be true. It’s horrible…”

Margaret Seymour had been attractive and pleasant. She had reached out to Em in order to make her transition as easy as possible. The whole family’s. They all liked her. No…good God.

“Who did this?” Kate shook her head, repulsed. “Why?”

“We don’t know.” Phil Cavetti got up and went over to the sink and poured her a glass of water. “This happened Thursday, last week. In a warehouse park outside of Chicago. All we do know is that Agent Seymour went there to meet someone-related to a case. I know how troubling it is.”

Kate gulped down a mouthful of cooling water, unable to stop shaking her head.

Cavetti squeezed her arm. “Like we said, we’re thinking this wasn’t designed to kill her at first but to get her to talk. To divulge something.”

“I don’t understand…”

“The whereabouts of a reassignment, Ms. Raab,” the Justice lawyer interjected. “Someone in the program.”

Suddenly she understood. A tremor of alarm gripped her. “Why are you showing me all this, Agent Cavetti?”

“Kate, we found something in Agent Seymour’s car.” The WITSEC agent paused. He took out something new from the envelope.

This time it wasn’t a photograph but a single sheet of notepaper, blank, like from a small perforated notepad, contained in a plastic bag.

Kate looked back at him, confused.

“The car was gone over, Kate, from front to back, by whoever did this, no doubt, to make sure it was clean. This sheet was still attached to a notepad on the dashboard. Something had been written on the page above it-and removed.”

“It’s blank.” Kate shrugged. But as she looked closer, she could see the faint outline of someone’s writing.

“Here, under UV light”-Cavetti took out one more photo-“you can see it enhanced.”

Kate held the new photo. Something had been scrawled there. Five letters came to life. In Margaret Seymour’s hand.

M-I-D-A-S.

“Midas?” Kate looked blank. “I’m not understanding. How does all this relate to me?”

Cavetti stared at her. “MIDAS is the code name we gave to your family, Kate.”

It had the force of a fist, hitting her squarely in the abdomen, squeezing the oxygen out of her lungs.

First Tina, outside the lab. Then Margaret Seymour, her family’s case agent. Now they were asking if she’d heard from her father.

“What’s going on, Agent Cavetti?” Kate stood up. “My family! They could be in danger. Have you notified them? Have you spoken with my father?”

“That’s why we’re here.” The WITSEC man paused, staring into her eyes. “I’m afraid your father is missing, Kate.”