Dangerous Minds (Knight and Moon #2)(8)

James shrugged. “Doesn’t seem especially significant to me.”

“And you don’t think it’s odd that my friend was forcibly removed from that same island, and when he came back it had disappeared?” Emerson asked.

James shifted in his seat and glanced at the security camera in the corner of the room. “Not really. These things happen all the time.”

Emerson paused for a moment. He leaned across the table and looked the bureaucrat in the eye. “Actually, they don’t.” He turned away and stared directly into the camera. “In fact, under normal circumstances, this never happens.”

“I’m not sure I’m the right one to help you,” James said.

Emerson continued to stare into the camera. “That’s the first honest thing anybody has said to me today. I won’t take up any more of your time.”

James stood to leave, but Emerson remained sitting.

“Um. Are we done?” James asked.

“You’re done. However, I am not.”

James turned the knob and opened the conference room door a couple inches. “You’re not coming?”

“No, I’d prefer not to.”

James opened the door fully and walked out into the hallway. He turned around to look at Emerson and Riley, still sitting at the conference table. “So, you’re really not coming?”

Emerson smiled politely. “Thank you. I’d prefer to stay here.”

“Okeydokey,” James said. “Can I get you anything? Coffee? Water?”

“No. We’re good,” Emerson said.

James stood in the doorway for a beat, unsure what to do next. He glanced at the security camera one last time, shrugged, and walked away down the hall.

Riley and Emerson sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity to Riley.

“So what are we going to do now?” she finally asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing! We can’t just do nothing!”

“Why not?” Emerson asked.

“Why not? Because this isn’t the couch in your living room. It’s a moldy old conference room in some government office building.”

Emerson slouched lower in the chair, getting more comfortable. “Wu wei.”

“Wu what?”

“It’s the Zen art of doing nothing. If we can do nothing in just the right way, the universe will provide the answers to all our questions.”

“How do we know if we’re doing it in the right way?”

“Spring comes effortlessly, the grass grows by itself,” Emerson said.

Riley gave him her most withering squint. “If you answer me with one more vague and basically meaningless piece of philosophical crap I’m going to kick you in the knee.”

Emerson opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and made the sign that he was zipping his lips shut.

Fifteen minutes later two men entered the conference room. The first was tall with a Mediterranean complexion and a lean and hungry look.

“Emerson Knight and Riley Moon? My name is Eugene Spiro. I’m chief scientist for the National Park Service.”

“The Park Service has a chief scientist?” Riley asked.

“It’s a relatively new position. I report to the director on the scientific assets of national parks and federal lands. I’m responsible for protecting park resources, ranging from dinosaur fossils to giant redwood trees.”

Emerson stood. “Then you’d be concerned to know that an entire island under your protection is missing.”

Spiro smiled. “I suppose an entire island would qualify as a park resource. Except that it’s impossible for an entire island to disappear. Do you know the principle of Occam’s razor? Given two explanations, the simpler one is usually correct.”

“I agree,” Emerson said. “Except that Occam’s razor assumes there are two explanations. I can think of only one.”

“And that is?”

“It’s been stolen.”

Spiro shook his head. “Even if such a thing were possible, and it’s not, then by whom? For what purpose? The entire area is an uninhabited marine sanctuary. It’s worthless except to a bunch of green turtles, humpback whales, and seabirds.”

The second man was at parade rest a couple feet behind Eugene. He was very fit. Closely shaved head and a three-day-old beard. Tattoo of two crossed sabers with a number one above them on his right hand. Both men appeared to be in their early forties. Both were wearing gray suits and white dress shirts. Top button open. No tie.

Riley thought neither looked like a scientist. She thought the man with the tattoo looked like a hired assassin, and Eugene looked like his pimp.

“We ran a background check on you just now,” the man with the tattoo said to Emerson. “Bottom line is, you’re a well-known troublemaker.”

“That’s nice of you to say,” Emerson said. “But I’m not sure how well-known I am. Maybe in certain circles I’ve achieved some degree of prominence, but I wouldn’t really describe myself as famous. Really, I just put my pants on one leg at a time, like every other troublemaker.”

“Is that supposed to be clever?” the man said.

Eugene stepped to one side and turned slightly. “This is my associate, Tim Mann, but everyone around here calls him Tin Man. He’s in charge of protecting park resources for the Pacific West Region.”