AIR HANDLERS Grade 5 to Grade 7
LABSTRUCTURE 400 cmm to 510 cmm
BIO SECURITY Level PK/3 to Level PK/5
CONVEYOR RATES 3 mpm to 2.5 mpm
HOLDING PENS 13 hectares to 26 hectares
STAFF 17 (4 admin) to 19 (4 admin)
COMM PROTOCOL ET(VX) to RDT (VX)
Malcolm frowned. “Curious, but not very helpful. It doesn’t tell us which island – or even if it’s on an island at all. What else have you got?”
“Well…” Arby flicked keys. “Let’s see. There’s this.”
SITE B ISLAND NETWORK NODAL POINTS
ZONE I (RIVER) 1-8
ZONE 2 (COAST) 9-16
ZONE 3 (RIDGE) 17-24
ZONE 4 (VALLEY) 25-32
Malcolm said, “Okay, so it’s an island. And Site B has a network- but a network of what? Computers?”
Arby said, “I don’t know. Maybe a radio network.”
“For what purpose?” Malcolm said. “What would a radio network be used for? This isn’t very helpful.”
Arby shrugged. He took it as a challenge. He began typing furiously again. Then said, “Wait!…Here’s another one …if I can just format it….There! Got it!”
He moved away from the screen, so the others could see.
Malcolm looked and said, “Very good. Very good!”
SITE B LEGENDS
EAST WING WEST WING LOADING BAY
LABORATORY ASSEMBLY BAY ENTRANCE
OUTLYING MAIN CORE GEO TURBINE
CONVENIENCE STORE WORKER VILLAGE GEO CORE
GAS STATION POOL/TENNIS PUTTING GREENS
MGRS HOUSE JOG PATH GAS LINES
SECURITY ONE SECURITY TWO THERMAL LINES
RIVER DOCK BOATHOUSE SOLAR ONE
SWAMP ROAD RIVER ROAD RIDGE ROAD
MTN VIEW ROAD CLIFF ROAD HOLDING PENS
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Malcolm said, scanning the listing. “Can you print this out?”
“Sure.” Arby was beaming. “Is it really good?”
“It really is, ” Malcolm said.
Kelly looked at Arby and said, “Arb. Those’re the text labels that go with a map.”
“Yeah, I think so. Pretty neat, huh?” He pushed a button, sending the image to the printer.
Malcolm peered at the listing some more, then turned his attention back to the satellite maps, looking closely at each one with the magnifying glass. His nose was just inches from the photographs.
“Arb,” Kelly said, “don’t just sit there. Come on! Recover the map! That’s what we need!”
“I don’t know if I can,” Arby said. “It’s a proprietary thirty-two-bit format….I mean, it’s a big job.”
“Stop whining, Arb. Just do it.”
“Never mind,” Malcolm said. He stepped away from the satellite images pinned on the wall. “It’s not important.”
“It’s not?” Arby said, a little wounded.
“No, Arby. You can stop. Because, from what you’ve already discovered, I am quite certain we can identify the island, right now.”
James
Ed James yawned, and pushed the earpiece tighter into his ear. He wanted to make sure he got all this. He shifted in the driver’s seat of his gray Taurus, trying to get comfortable, trying to stay awake. The small tape recorder was spinning in his lap, next to his notepad, and the crumpled papers from two Big Macs. James looked across the street at Levine’s apartment building. The lights were on in the third-floor apartment.
And the bug he had placed there last week was working fine. Through his earpiece, he heard one of the kids say, “How?”
And then the crippled guy, Malcolm, said, “The essence of verification is multiple lines of reasoning that converge at a single point.”
“Meaning what?” the kid said.
Malcolm said, “Just look at the Landsat pictures.”
On his notepad, James wrote LANDSAT.
“We already looked at those,” the girl said.
James felt foolish not to have realized earlier that these two kids were working for Levine. He remembered them well, they were in the class Levine taught. There was a short black kid and a gawky white girl. Just kids: maybe eleven or twelve. He should have realized.
Not that it mattered now, he thought. He was getting the information anyway. James reached across the dashboard and plucked out the last two French fries, and ate them, even though they were cold.
“Okay,” he heard Malcolm say. “It’s this island here. This is the island Levine went to.”
The girl said doubtfully, “You think so? This is…Isla Sorna.”
James wrote ISLA SORNA.
“That’s our island,” Malcolm said. “Why? Three independent reasons. First, it’s privately owned, so it hasn’t been thoroughly searched by the Costa Rican government. Second, privately owned by whom? By the Germans, who leased rights to mineral excavations, back in the twenties.”