The Panic Zone

26

Paradise Island, Bahamas

A seaplane flew low over Nassau’s harbor.

It descended near the mammoth cruise ships and luxury hotels before it touched down, peeling curtains of spray from the clear Bahamian water. It glided to the terminal at the foot of the Grand Blue Tortoise Resort.

A lone passenger stepped onto the dock; a woman in her late fifties. She wore a sleeveless white shirt, white linen pants, a white straw braided sun hat and dark glasses. A tote bag was slung over her shoulder. She carried a small black case in her left hand and she carried herself with the poise of an executive arriving for a business meeting as she walked to the golf cart and the young Bahamian man sent to pick her up.

“Good morning, Doctor.”

“Hello.”

Dr. Gretchen Sutsoff did not smile or offer conversation.

Whenever possible, she preferred not to deal with people but it was unavoidable today. She’d left the solitude of her private island to come to the resort to tend to her business. Today she would conduct more secret trials. Her work was proceeding well, but if she was going to make her product more powerful she needed that overdue report from her research team in Africa, and she needed it now.

There was little time left.

The golf cart’s electric motor hummed softly as Gretchen and her driver rolled toward the main structure. With two thousand rooms distributed through the complex, the Grand Blue Tortoise was one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. It offered restaurants, pools, casinos, shops and an amusement park on a thirty-hectare expanse of tropical property, ringed with pristine beaches.

The road from the dock was lined with tall palms nodding in the breeze. As the golf cart neared the central structure, the road started to congest with a stream of jitneys, cars and cruise ship shuttles. Having to contend with crowds triggered the onset of one of Dr. Sutsoff’s throbbing headaches. She got out a capsule from a pill case in her bag as her driver maneuvered their cart to the entrance.

The lobby backed on to a restaurant bar. A giant flat-screen TV glowed from a dark paneled wall with a news report on the upcoming Human World Conference. She glanced at it as she passed by, reminding herself that she had much to do in very little time. Soon she would be leaving for her business meeting overseas. She checked her cell phone-still nothing from her primary research team in Africa. Everything was almost ready. But it was critical that she personally take charge of the final preparations.

Too much was at stake.

First things first, she told herself as she came to the breezeway that opened to a swimming pool and courtyard where suntanned guests lounged, reaching for drinks served on wicker trays.

Crossing the courtyard, she entered the south wing and a ground level area of the hotel. In the lush garden front, a wooden sign in dark mahogany identified the section as the Blue Tortoise Kids’ Hideaway.

This was the resort’s child-care service center. Its exterior walls were constructed with hurricane-proof glass. She saw toddlers and older children playing inside. Guests were required to use their room keys, and staff needed their swipe cards for access beyond this point. She fished in her bag for her security card and passed it through the reader. It beeped and she entered.

She was met with joyful chaos. The smells of baby powder, suntan lotion and fruit mingled in the air. It was a large operation handling scores of children from infants to preteens. It ran twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and was staffed with trained caregivers and several nurses. It also had more than fifty top-flight babysitters on call for additional care on-site or in a guest’s room.

The Hideaway offered computer games, movies, parties, sleepovers and crafts, as well as supervised excursions throughout the resort or to the amusement park. It was meant for parents who needed a break for a few hours.

And, in some special cases, longer.

It was expensive but families from all over the world praised the quality of the care. Staff members were thoughtful, compassionate. No one was neglected and someone was always available to speak to any visiting child in Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Farsi or Russian-nearly every major language.

The child care was not provided by the resort.

The Grand Blue Tortoise had contracted an agency specializing in the service. The Blue Tortoise Kids’ Hideaway was a numbered company that vanished in the labyrinth of the local tax system, the maze of Bahamian corporate law and the cloak of complex international banking operations.

The same shadowy entity also provided similar services at resorts in the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Australia, Maldives, Africa, the Mediterranean, Hong Kong, the U.K., China, Canada and the U.S.

Dr. Gretchen Sutsoff and her silent investors owned it all.

But no one knew that she was the invisible force controlling the company. Very few people knew her true identity. No one knew that, for years, she had been living under the alias of Elinor Auden, medical doctor, businesswoman and researcher. It enabled her to work with her international associates as they secretly strived to correct the mistakes of civilization.

“Good morning, Dr. Auden.” Lucy Walsh, the chief executive assistant, acknowledged a young family. “As you know we were expecting Elena and Valmir Leeka, and their son, Alek. They’re from Albania and have been vacationing in the United States.”

“Yes, of course.” Dr. Sutsoff smiled at the boy, squirming in his stroller. “Goodness, someone’s not happy. If you’ll indulge me for a minute, I’ll be with you shortly.”

The doctor entered her office alone, shutting the door behind her.

The quiet was calming.

She turned on her computers and glanced up at the bank of flat screens wired to the cameras monitoring the rooms, the outdoor jungle playground, and the pool where more children played.

Three muted TV panels monitored cable news channels.

No one knew the true nature of her research. No one knew the scope and reach of her operation and what it involved. She did a quick check, scrolling through files.

LA #212005 to New York67

LA #907864 to Texas908

LA #376274 to Minnesota9087

LN #77-487 to Bristol26

LN #F8-787 to Manchester98

LN #FF-879 to Dublin948

LN #00-977 to GlasgowS93

BN #JI-47-90 to Franfurt635

BN #K-489-86 to Munich875

BN #A-34-90 to Hamburg887

And the new ones: PRC #PQ-487-98 to Kunming967 and LA #181975 to Wyoming847.

The Chinese case would arrive soon. Now, she needed to focus on the extensive computer files she already had on the Albanians who’d arrived today with the Wyoming case. She had concerns with the Leekas but would get to them later.

Sutsoff’s dedication to her work bordered on being pathological. Her staff worshipped her genius with zeal and fear. Her enigmatic mystique commanded unquestioned obedience, loyalty and absolute secrecy.

For the “special cases.”

While most of the children at the center belonged to vacationing parents, there were those who were entangled in “complications,” such as international custody disputes or “other matters.”

“Their parents seek our service as a sanctuary,” Sutsoff had told her staff. “For security reasons, these situations must never be discussed.”

Consequently, the staff never questioned her about the strange cases or the cases of children who stayed for weeks, even months on end, as if they’d been abandoned.

Or hidden.

Dr. Sutsoff concentrated on these children, the ones her staff privately called, “the Children of the Hideaway.”

The latest to surface was the Albanian case of little one-year-old Alek Leeka. His medical records had already been scanned into the secure computer system. Dr. Sutsoff had studied them on her island before flying in today. Now, after rereading them and double-checking her secure files, she thought the preliminary work done was flawless. The child’s DNA signature was perfect, the best of them all to date.

But recent mistakes had been made in this case and it was time to deal with them. Sutsoff asked Lucy to usher the family into her private office. Lucy joined them, making notes of the meeting. The baby was on the verge of crying.

“Why so grouchy?” Sutsoff cooed. Then she said, “Hello, Elena and Valmir. You must be very pleased things have gone so well, so quickly?”

They smiled and nodded nervously. Elena was chewing gum.

“We are happy to have a son, finally,” Valmir said.

“The files note that you are both dual citizens of Albania and the United States and that you’re in the process of adopting your new child whom you’ve named Alek.” Dr. Sutsoff nodded to Lucy. “Unfortunately, the boy was orphaned when his parents recently died in a tragic car crash in the United States. Ah, but for every ending there is a beginning. The adoption process has been expedited through an international law firm based in Brazil. Isn’t that correct, Elena?”

Elena, who was working hard on her gum, stopped and nodded.

“That is correct, yes.”

“It’s been a little stressful,” Sutsoff said to Lucy. “Elena and Valmir are going to extend their vacation. Now, if I may, I’ll just have a look at Alek. I see he’s a little crotchety. I think I can fix that.”

Sutsoff looked at the baby in his stroller, taking stock as if he were a prized jewel, smiling to herself before turning and scrutinizing her computer files once more. Then she hefted him to the small table in her office, slid on her stethoscope and while Lucy steadied him, proceeded to examine the toddler for some twenty minutes, making detailed notes the whole time. Afterward, Sutsoff went into her small fridge and poured a little fruit punch into a plastic cup with dolphins on it. Then Sutsoff opened her small black medical bag, found a tiny brown bottle, unscrewed the lid and tapped a few drops into the juice.

“This medicine should help.” She held the cup while little Alek gulped it down.

“That’s a good boy.” She patted his head. “Lucy, would you mind getting one of the staff to take care of Alek. He’s going to stay with us for this afternoon while his parents have some alone time.”

Lucy took the toddler in her arms.

“Come on, sweetie,” she murmured. “You can meet the other angels.”

After Lucy closed the door, Valmir’s head snapped to Dr. Sutsoff.

“Where is our fucking money?”

Sutsoff ignored him and checked a file on her computer.

“We want to be paid now,” Valmir said.

“Valmir, you were part of the recovery team in the case of this Wyoming boy?”

Subtly, Valmir pushed his chest forward. “Yes.”

“Your instructions were to obtain the baby. That accident could have killed him. You took a stupid risk.”

Valmir shrugged as Sutsoff’s computer printer came to life.

“There was miscommunication,” Valmir said. “Our team was advised that you only needed his tissue. Whether he was dead or alive was no concern. But we grabbed him. He lived and we brought him to you as instructed. The mother and father died, so there is no problem.”

Sutsoff handed him a news article.

“The father died, but the mother lived, Valmir. You made a dangerous error, risking everything. Fortunately, everyone assumes the baby died.”

Valmir sucked air through his teeth. “So? It’s a win-win. Pay us our fucking money if you want us to continue.”

Sutsoff could barely contain her loathing of these two. She’d come to employ them through her international networks: Valmir, the onetime security agent turned human trafficker from Albania and Elena, the prostitute. Dr. Sutsoff hated them but needed them, as she needed the others like them. They were essential to the overall operation. But there was little reason for them to live beyond that. She would happily erase them later. For now, she pulled a thick envelope from her desk and tapped it in her hands.

“You are supposed to be convincing as proud parents. Valmir, you reek of cigarettes. Drink some mouthwash, shave, bathe and lose your tasteless jewelry. Elena, lose the gum, wear clothing that covers your tattoos and suggests you have a brain and are a good mother, not a moronic whore.”

Sutsoff tossed the envelope to Valmir, who fanned the American bills, seventy-five thousand dollars in all.

“We’re going to the casino now.”

“Listen to me,” Sutsoff said. “Stay sober. We have new passports for you and your son. Pick up the boy in five hours. We’ve arranged for you to join a cruise ship tonight. You are to conduct yourselves as a family on a Caribbean cruise. When your cruise ends, you will fly back to Nassau and stay in this resort. All your tickets and expenses are taken care of.”

“That’s it?” Valmir asked.

“You have one assignment on the ship.”

“What is it?”

“A man and woman from Indianapolis will be staying in the cabin across the hall from yours. All you have to do is ensure that at some point the boy innocently touches the man’s skin.”

Valmir looked at Elena then back at Dr. Sutsoff.

“That’s it?” Valmir asked.

“That’s it.”