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“So, we don’t have any idea who the dead pilot is?” I asked.
Watts leaned back on his chair, and it creaked under the shift of weight. “A pilot was reported missing by his ex-wife two months back. We don't have confirmation yet that he's our guy at the bottom of the ocean, but there’s been no report of a missing plane that I could find.”
“It was a seaplane, so it could have come from along the coastline, or any of the islands out there,” I said.
“Or the rivers,” Watts added. “And it could have flown for hours before it ditched. We need to get hold of the black box on the plane and find out where it came from. That’s where you and your team come in, Ryder. I want you to get down there ASAP.”
“Yes, sir,” Ryder said. “We’ll finally have one of our patrol boats back in the water in two days.”
“Good,” Watts said, “and I want you to bring up that pilot, too. We’ll get the coroner to identify him for us. That will give us another lead.”
My thoughts jumped to the last time I saw our coroner, Whitney. “Sir, I haven’t heard how many bodies were located at Angelsong Orphanage.”
Aria and Watts groaned at the same time.
“Seventeen,” Watts said.
“Jesus.” My chest caved. “Those poor kids. Is Whitney working on identifying them, too?”
“Yes. Poor bastard is fucking busy.” Watts scraped his hand over his head. “Between those orphans and the bodies from the shipping container, this damn town is heading for the record books for all the wrong reasons.”
“And all roads lead back to that bastard Ziháo Chui.” Aria clenched her jaw so hard it was a wonder her teeth didn’t crack.
“You say a woman reported her ex-husband pilot missing two months ago,” I said, “but that doesn’t fit with the timeline of Chui’s death. So how does?—?”
“She reported him missing two months ago,” Watts cut in, “but they were estranged, so he could have been missing for much longer than that.”
“A missing pilot is a coincidence that’s too neat to ignore.” I nodded at Aria.
“Agreed,” she said. “Maybe the accountant got triggered when Chui died and tried to run with Chui’s money.”
Everyone nodded, mulling over that scenario.
“Was anyone else reported missing three months ago?” I asked.
Watts shook his head. “Nobody so far.”
“So, after the pilot gets shot, whoever else was on the plane left behind precious intel that leads to a fortune,” Lacey said.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Watts said, scowling.
“If it was Chui’s accountant who was on the plane, and he survived the crash, then surely he would have dived down to the wreck to retrieve that hard drive,” Ryder said.
I sat forward. “Unless he doesn’t know where the plane is.”
I explained to them how the device didn’t start beeping until we were ten feet from the surface.
“Okay, that’s an interesting twist.” Aria’s eyes darkened.
“Within forty minutes of us bringing that hard drive onto Indiana’s boat, we were attacked by a drone.”
Cobra whistled. “A drone attack? Holy hell.”
“It’s a miracle you survived,” Lacey said.
“Tell me about it. Whoever was controlling that drone was ready to deploy it as soon as the signal was received. But that’s not all.” I explained how Indiana and I got away using her underwater scooter and how we were attacked again by the men from the helicopter as soon as we landed on Wombat Island.
“Christ.” Ryder shifted his stance. “That’s some serious shit.”
