His shock at seeing the face only lasted for a second. Or his inaction did, the shock continued.
"A black Cobra," he pointed at the data terminal. "Find me a black Cobra."
The agent frowned, but went to work.
"There are four Cobras in the landing deck," he read from the screen.
"Black?" Rowley interrupted
"None are black, Sir."
He wouldn't be here without it, surely. A transport, perhaps? Maybe, but it wouldn't help the search.
"Go further back," Rowley added, "any black cobras in private hangers, workshops," he paused to think where else, "hell, are there any black cobras in the breakers yard now or recently."
He watched the young operator tapping away. He still looked confused, but so long as he did his job that was all that was needed.
"Nothing in black, Sir. Are you sure it's b..."
"I'm sure," he snapped back.
"Sir," a different agent this time. "I might have something, it looks like an anomaly, but ..."
"What is it?"
"Ten years ago the deck crew logged an arrival matching your black cobra."
"Ten years, come on man, something current."
"No, Sir, that's the anomaly. There's no further record of it. There's no departure date, and no record of it being moved off the flight line."
Rowley stood and glared at the young officer who cowered like a hare in headlights. Rowley didn't even notice him, his mind was occupied with trying to understand how such an anomaly could happen.
"There have been instances of the logs being hacked, Sir," the original agent offered. "Well connected smugglers managed to have their records deleted a few years ago, we never did get to the bottom of it."
Rowley switched his gaze, "so we assume it's still here, but how do we find it?" With a wave of the hand he motioned for answers.
"There are hundreds of storage units big enough for a cobra," one suggested without much hope.
"But the records for this one would have looked empty for the last ten years!" the cowering one sprung back to life.
"Good, very good." Rowley's finger pointed at the cowering one who breathed a sigh of relief. "Get to it. There can't be many places matching that description."