Chapter 26

A Secure Connection

 

 

Disoriented, he was vaguely aware of a female voice repeating, “Parker, can you hear me? Parker?” The voice, that had started out distant and strange, was growing clearer and more familiar.

A short burst of gentle slaps to his stubbled cheek shocked him to consciousness. He smacked his lips and opened his eyes to see Becky’s worried expression inches from his face and her manicured fingers poised to strike him again.

Still groggy, he lifted his hand in a wobbly attempt to block her blow. “Stop hitting me.”

“Are you okay?” she asked in a gentle, concerned voice. Before he could answer, she turned and said to someone behind her, “Call 9-1-1 and get an ambulance.”

Parker bolted up in his chair. “Whoa, whoa, no ambulance. I’m fine.”

“Do you know where you are?”

He blinked and looked around at the drab gray surroundings. “Yeah. I’m in my beautiful cubicle.” He retrieved a tissue from a box and wiped drool from his mouth and neck, then looked into Becky’s worried eyes. “I must have dozed off. I’m sorry.”

“Should I still get the ambulance?” a man’s voice said.

Parker swiveled around to see his coworkers peering over the cubicle walls at him. Recognizing the man, Parker put his hand on the pistol hanging from his shoulder harness and said, “Tom, if you call an ambulance, I will shoot you.”

“Okay, that would be a ‘no,’” Tom said. “Glad to see you’re back to your normal asshole self,” he added as he walked away.

“Wait,” Becky barked. “I still want him to get checked out.”

“Go away, Tom. It’s not necessary,” Parker said. “I was up late last night, and I must’ve fallen asleep. That’s all.”

Becky studied him for a moment, then turned to the others hovering nearby. “Let’s give him some breathing room. You know what he’s like when he thinks people care about him.”

“Fuck you all,” he said.

“See? Go back to work, everyone.” She sat on his desk and stared down at him. “You didn’t just fall asleep. Tom said he heard you talking on the phone and then he heard the handset hit the keyboard. He rushed over and found you staring at the ceiling and drooling all over yourself. You blacked out.”

The handset was dangling from its cord. Parker lifted it to his ear and said, “Hello?” Silence. Whoever had been on the other end must have hung up. He placed the handset back in its cradle, and as he did, he noticed the web page from the National Institute of Health on his computer screen.

“Who were you talking to?”

Parker scratched his head and glanced at the screen again. The NIH web page contained a list of medical papers on genetic disorders. “Not really sure. Whoever it was will probably call me back.”

She took his hand in hers. “How often is this happening?”

“What? Me napping at work?”

“No. You know damn well what I mean.”

“It’s rare, Becky,” Parker said. “It is what it is. I’ll be okay.” Then he remembered who he’d been on the phone with. “I was talking to Jaden about some interesting facts I’ve learned about our Collector case.”

The corners of Becky’s eyes crinkled. “Maybe you should take a break from this.”

He shook his head. “I’m fine.” He really was feeling better. “I want to tell you what we learned.”

She sighed. “Okay, tell me.”

“If you give me my hand back.”

Becky let go, looking a little embarrassed.

“LVMPD spoke some more to Charles Tate’s wife about his Metaverse addiction.”

“Uh-huh, and?”

“His wife said Tate had recently lost his character in the game.” Parker pulled a sticky note from his computer monitor. He’d written the word Pharoah on it. “He called the character Pharoah.”

“Like an Egyptian king?”

“I think they considered themselves gods,” Parker said. “But, yeah. This Pharoah character was a big deal to Tate. Somebody killed it and Tate was out of his mind, like he’d lost a close friend.”

“Huh.”

“I know. Weird.”

“Yeah,” Becky said. “That’s why I like your Metaverse theory. This Land of Might and Magic game is full of weirdos. Did you ask the Clearwater victim’s mother if she played it?”

“She said her daughter didn’t have time for such nonsense. Her words.”

Becky frowned. “I still like the game angle even if the Clearwater vic doesn’t fit.”

Parker grinned. “Abby didn’t play the game, but it turns out she had a very interesting job. She was a programmer for a firm called ZCS.” He retrieved his tablet from the desk and opened his note-taking application. “Zhang Control Systems.”

“Okay? Why is that interesting?”

“It’s what they make and who owns them,” he said. “ZCS manufactures security systems, and Abby worked on entryway access systems.”

“Door locks,” Becky said with a hint of excitement.

“You got it. She wrote the software for those systems.”

“You think our unsub used that software to gain access to his victims while they were sleeping?”

“I do.”

“Do you think she helped him? I mean before he killed her?”

“I don’t know. But wait till you hear who owns the company.”

Becky arched her eyebrows. Her raccoon mask seemed to glow. He motioned for her to draw nearer. When she’d bent close to him, he whispered. “You look like the Lone Ranger. You need to get some sun around those eyes.”

She pushed back from him. “You’re such a fucking jerk. Who owns ZCS?”

“Zhang Control Systems was founded by a Chinese immigrant named David Zhang.”

“So? Who the hell is David Zhang and why do we care?”

“He’s just another rich tech guy, but he has a daughter. A very special and smart daughter named Jasmine, who, like her daddy, is a computer and engineering genius.”

Becky motioned for him to get on with it.

“Jasmine and her husband, Marcus, founded their own company, a computer software firm called Xperion.”

“This is going somewhere, right Parker?”

He grinned, relishing the build-up. “Patience, patience. Guess what Xperion does?”

“I have no idea.” She glanced at her watch. “And since you are not dying, I have to head back upstairs for a meeting.”

“Xperion creates Metaverse simulations, also known as games.”

Her eyes widened. “No way,” she said.

“Yep. They produce the Land of Might and Magic.”

She slapped her hand on the desk and said, “Hot fuck,” loud enough for everyone to hear. Then she covered her mouth.

“Language,” a woman’s voice said from over the cubicle wall.

“Oops.”

Parker grinned. “Get a handle on yourself. It gets better. ZCS is based in Las Vegas.”

“Wait,” she said. “I thought this Abby was in Clearwater.”

“Remote work. You might have heard of it.”

She nodded. “Yeah, but if we had that, who would wake you up when you nod off?”

“True,” he said. “Anyway, LVMPD is going to work the ZCS angle. I think that’s what I was setting up with Jaden. I’m actually hurt he hasn’t called back. What if I had blacked out?”

She ignored his joke. “Who’s working Xperion?”

“Funny you should ask.”

“No,” Becky said before he could complete his thought.

“Come on. I want to go talk to these people.”

“Parker, we’re not investigators. Remember?”

“I know, I know, but I want to meet them. See what they do, who they are. You know, profile them.”

She sighed. “Where are they based?”

“San Francisco. Palo Alto to be precise.”

“You can’t go alone.”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “You want to come?”

She smiled and shook her head. “No.”

“Okay. I’ll take Jaden. He’s cuter.”

“He’s not on the team. You can’t just take him with you to San Francisco. He belongs to the Las Vegas field office.”

“Belongs?”

“You know what I mean. I’ll get San Francisco to assign someone.”

Parker crossed his arms. “I’ve already bonded with Jaden.”

“Bonded? You just met him.”

“He’s seen me in my underwear.”

She raised her hands. “Not another word. I’ll see what I can do, but I don’t know if I can make it happen.”

“Sure you can. The Lone Ranger can do anything.”