The Panic Zone

69

New York City

“We’re close to Tyler, I can feel it, Jack.” Emma Lane’s concentration never strayed from Gannon’s computer monitor.

The memory card she’d obtained from the Blue Tortoise Kids’ Hideaway held hundreds of files. Gannon and Emma continued studying them now at Gannon’s desk in the World Press Alliance headquarters.

They’d first read the files yesterday, during their flight from Nassau.

Tears had rolled down Emma’s face when she’d found Tyler’s case among them. It contained his health records from his doctor and the clinic in California, Emma and Joe’s personal information, their photos, articles on their crash from the Big Cloud Gazette, even Joe’s obituary. Then separate information about “adoptive parents” Valmir and Elena Leeka, and something about Tyler’s birth parents having died in a car accident.

“Why are they doing this?” Emma had asked over and over.

Gannon didn’t have the answer

Today, he zeroed in on the data related to seventy couples or families located around the world.

“There seems to be a pattern.”

Earlier that morning, after Gannon had brought Melody Lyon up to speed, she’d assigned other reporters to help. They’d taken the names Gannon had mined from the files and started calling New York hotels to see if any people named in the files were registered.

In studying the files, Gannon had discovered that each case involved a small child, usually under three years old. Each case also seemed to involve an adoption through law firms or agencies in Brazil, South Africa, Eastern Europe, Malaysia, China or India. And each case involved name changes and exhaustive health records.

In the more recent files, Gannon found that names of the “families” or “couples” had been removed or changed. But a few files contained notes about traveling to New York for the Human World Conference. Gannon had managed to pull some of those names from those files. He was reviewing them when he got a call from a WPA reporter who was helping them.

“Jack, it’s Linwood.”

“You get anything with those names I gave you to check?”

“Zip.”

“Keep checking.”

Gannon kept poring over the files. His focus sharpened when he found one he’d overlooked. It contained two names: Joy Lee Chenoweth and Wex Taggart out of Vancouver, Canada.

There were photos of the couple with a boy about three years old and recent notes suggesting that they would be going to the Human World Conference and staying at the Tellwood Regency Inn.

Gannon picked up his phone and called the hotel.

“Tellwood Regency, how may I help you?”

“Yes, I’m trying to reach two guests, Joy Lee Chenoweth and Wex Taggart. Did they check in yet?”

“One moment, sir.” Keys clicked. “Yes, Wex Taggart from Vancouver, British Columbia.”

“That’s right.”

“We have them. Would you like me to connect you, now?”

“Yes, please.”

The line switched and rang twice before a woman answered.

“Hello?”

Gannon hesitated while looking at the file photos. The voice on the line seemed suited to the pretty young Asian woman staring back at him.

“I’m sorry. I think I’ve got the wrong room.”

Gannon hung up and turned to Emma.

“We have a lead at the Tellwood hotel.”