| |
Lowell frowned fiercely as he pressed the disconnect button on his phone. Philip still wasn't picking up his phone. He glanced at his watch and his lips tightened. It was almost ten o'clock in the morning and so far, his day was not going remotely as planned. He had lost track of Angela altogether sometime during the night. When he went to bed, the software still had her car sitting in the mall parking lot that didn't exist, but when he got up this morning, it was gone. Somehow, someone had disabled the software on Angela's end, effectively concealing her from him. The only thing he knew for sure was she hadn't come to work today and her voicemail had a message saying she would be out of the office for the rest of the week. His only recourse was to go back to the dirt road in the woods and see if she was still there.
Lowell set down his cell phone and glanced up as a co-worker walked by, nodding to him distractedly. Philip was supposed to have emailed him confirmation when the virus was extracted on his end this morning. So far, he hadn't received any such confirmation. Where was he?
Lowell's eyes shifted involuntarily to his email, still open on his laptop. Then, there was that. The mystery email. It arrived yesterday, sent from a secured, untraceable IP. Glancing around to make sure no one was within view of his cubicle, Lowell clicked on the email again. There was no message, just a screenshot, pasted into the email. It was a picture of a tongue, laying in a blue Tiffany's box.
He had no doubt whose tongue it was. He was being warned not to talk, as if he would. He spent hours last night trying to back-trace the email, only to come up empty. Whoever sent it was well-versed in the art of concealing their cyber-trail.
Everything was unraveling, all the careful planning and years of preparation. Rodrigo was dead, his tongue in a box, and now Philip was missing. What the hell was going on?
Lowell glanced at his watch again and closed his email. They were on a strict time schedule and he had to start the harvesting program no later than four today. That meant he had until three to find out if Philip had extracted his end. If he hadn't, Lowell would have to override the failsafe.
Standing, he picked up his phone and his keys and turned to leave the cubicle.
They were running out of time.
Blake exited the prison from the main door at the front, a frown creasing his face. Stephanie brought him here after their meeting with Rob to show him the infamous Dungeon and maze. She was still inside speaking to one of the uniforms on duty, and Blake shook his head slightly to himself as he descended the steep prison steps. It took some balls to place an arm in plain view in the middle of the day. Only Jenaro would come up with something so flamboyantly gruesome. What the hell was he driving at? Who was he sending a warning to? Lowell? Philip? Someone else?
Blake paused at the bottom of the steps and turned left to stroll along the brick path. The fact that the prison guide was missing bothered him. He knew Jenaro too well to question where the guide had gone. The only question he had was where they would find her body. Running a hand through his hair absently, Blake paused and turned to look at the busy road in front of the prison. The building sat on a major thoroughfare in the middle of what appeared to be a busy little town. There was rarely a break in the traffic driving by, and pedestrians were milling up and down the street at regular intervals. Behind the prison was the police station, and a few blocks over from that was the new county prison. It was hardly a secluded setting. He turned and looked up at the prison. So, why here? What about this place had captured Jenaro's interest?
He turned to continue walking along the pathway, still mulling over the questions in his head, when he sensed he was being watched. Glancing at the busy road again, he paused. His eyes narrowed and he stopped, looking across the busy street.
A woman was on the other side, leaning against a street light. She was dressed all in black and sunglasses concealed most of her face. She had her arms crossed and appeared relaxed as she leaned against the pole watching him. Even from this distance, Blake could sense the dangerous energy surrounding her. They stared at each other for a moment and Blake knew, without a doubt, that he was staring at Michael's mysterious Viper.
The traffic streaming between them seemed to disappear as Blake studied the assassin his friend had risked so much to save two months ago. She was every bit as intimidating as he would have expected and his lips twitched slightly. Intimidating to everyone except his pit bull, Buddy.
After studying him for a long moment, Viper raised her hand and touched her forehead briefly in a salute. Blake nodded in acknowledgement just before a public transportation bus rumbled by, blocking his view as it pulled to a stop in front of the prison. The doors opened and a young man ambled off. The bus rumbled forward again and Blake blinked.
There was no sign of the woman in black anywhere.
Viper had disappeared.
“Let me get this straight,” Stephanie said, holding her phone to her ear and pausing in the act of opening her car door. “Jessica Nuñez has disappeared, you can't find any trace of this Lorenzo Porras, we still have no leads on the guide, and now Karl is missing?!”
“That about sums it up, yeah,” John answered through the phone.
“What the hell, John!” Stephanie exclaimed, wrenching open the driver's door and getting behind the wheel. “Do you have any good news for me?”
“Matt found the logs on Rodrigo's PC,” John replied.
“And?”
“Rodrigo definitely used Angela's credentials to access the mainframe.”
“Oh, well, that's a relief,” Stephanie muttered sarcastically. She started the engine and switched to her Bluetooth. “I was waiting for you to say the logs had disappeared too!”
Hitting the gas, she pulled into traffic and headed away from the prison.
“Blake thinks he can find Porras and Jenaro,” John said after a few seconds of silence. “If he concentrates on them, we can focus on Philip and Lowell. Have you heard from the agent you have tailing Philip?”
“Yes.” Stephanie slowed down as she approached a red light. “He left his house this morning and went straight to work. He hasn't left the building since. I'm on my way there now to pay him a surprise visit.”
“You're going alone?”
“I don't want to scare him,” Stephanie answered. “I just want to see what we're dealing with there. I want you to find at least one of our missing persons. Do you think you can handle that?”
“No need to be nasty,” John retorted without heat. “It's not my fault everyone is disappearing on us.”
“I just don't understand how we're losing all our witnesses!” Stephanie exclaimed, frustration making her voice sharper than she intended. “What's going on?!”
“A Cartel is in town, that's what's going on,” John muttered. “If I thought there was a chance my head would end up on a bamboo spike, I'd run too.”
“According to Blake, that chance is pretty high for both of us,” Stephanie told him. “Jenaro doesn't care for law enforcement of any kind, and apparently he has a particular hatred for Federal law enforcement.”
“He won't try it on US soil,” John scoffed. “Even he can't be that ballsy.”
“I wouldn't take bets on it, if I were you.” Stephanie pulled onto the highway and accelerated. “He walked into a disused prison in the cops' backyard and deposited multiple body parts. Something tells me he's not worried about playing it safe.”
“You think he's behind our missing persons?”
“I wouldn't be surprised. Without them, we have nothing, and he knows that,” Stephanie said. “We need to find them. You concentrate on that and I'll see where I can get with Philip Chou.”
“You got it. What about Angela?” John asked.
“Lina is taking care of her,” Stephanie answered. “She ran the plates on the mystery car this morning and texted me. It belongs to Kwan, but we already suspected that. Frankly, Angie is the least of my worries right now. Out of everyone, she's the safest.”
“Are you going to talk to the Black Widow about the Cartel? Or are we just going to ignore the fact that she knew they were in town?”
“Oh, I'll get to her, don't worry,” Stephanie said grimly.
“Do you think she's somehow involved with the search for Jenaro?” John asked.
“I don't know,” Stephanie replied, shaking her head slightly. “It's possible, but I don't think Jenaro is her typical mark. I think it's probably more likely that she knows more about this Moon character.”
John whistled softly.
“I hadn't thought of that,” he admitted. “If Jin Seung Moon is a terrorist for North Korea, then he'd be right up her alley of...expertise.”
“Exactly. Rob's already warned me to go carefully where Moon is concerned,” Stephanie told him. “If we come across any evidence Moon is behind our hacking ring, we have to notify him immediately. He's afraid of the international ramifications if we mishandle him.”
“If Alina is after Moon, I don't think we'll have much of a chance to mishandle anything,” John retorted.
“Trust me, I already thought of that,” Stephanie replied. “If she's after Moon, we've got an even bigger problem on our hands.”
Michael picked up his phone when it started ringing and glanced into the dining room where Angela was busy on her laptop. She had her Bluetooth hooked into her ear, listening to a conference call as she worked on a spreadsheet. He had to admit that she was a hard worker. She had been at the laptop for three hours now, on and off the phone, working constantly.
“Hello?”
“How's Brooklyn?” Blake asked.
Michael turned his attention back to his own laptop.
“I don't know. I haven't made it back up yet,” he answered. “How do you like Jersey?”
“There's quite a mix of interesting characters here,” Blake replied dryly. “I even saw your girlfriend.”
Michael lifted his eyes from his laptop sharply, a frown creasing his face.
“Where?”
“Across the road. She was watching me. Any ideas why?”
“None come to mind.” Michael closed his laptop and got up off the couch, heading over to the sliding doors. He stepped out onto the deck and slid the door closed behind him. “How do you know it was her?”
“Call it a hunch.” Blake's voice got muffled for a moment and then Michael heard the sound of a car door slamming. “She was across the road from an old prison. It's a museum now. She kind of looked like...”
“What?” Michael prompted when Blake didn't continue.
“Well, don't laugh...but she kind of looked like The Black Widow,” Blake told him.
Michael burst out laughing.
“Now that you mention it, there is a resemblance,” he admitted. “And she was wearing black when she left the house today.”
“Oh really?” Blake drawled. “How do we know what she was wearing today?”
“I'm staying with her temporarily,” Michael answered, suppressing a sigh.
“Is that so?” Blake demanded. “I thought you said it wasn't like that? In fact, I distinctly remember you biting my head off when I suggested...”
“Yes, yes, I know,” Michael cut him off crossly, causing Blake to start laughing. “It's not what you think. One of her friends got herself into a jam. I'm babysitting.”
There was a moment of complete silence on the phone and Michael waited, resigned. He didn't have long to wait.
“You don't say?” Blake's voice was shaking slightly. “I didn't know you took up moonlighting in your off-hours. How much do you charge for that?”
“Shut it, Twinkle-Toes,” Michael growled. At the mention of his old nickname from their military days, Blake guffawed into the phone. “It's only until Viper can take over.”
“Oh, this is priceless,” Blake chortled. “You mean, you're doing it for her? What's the matter? Is she busy saving the world again?”
“Stop being an ass.”
“I can't help it. I was born this way,” Blake retorted cheerfully. “This friend who got in a jam? Anything I should know about there?”
“Why do you ask?” Michael leaned on the banister around the deck and gazed out over the back lawn.
“Oh, I don't know.” Blake resorted to sarcasm. “Maybe because you're spending your vacation babysitting the friend of one of our government's top assassins, while I suddenly find myself working with her other friend. I don't know about you, Mike, but I'm starting to think Viper's just bad luck to her friends.”
“I wouldn't go that far yet,” Michael murmured. “As far as I can tell, Viper has no involvement.”
“Yet,” Blake retorted. The word hung heavily between them for a moment, then Blake moved on. “Well, if anything comes up that I should know about, let me know.”
“Will do.” Michael frowned slightly at the undercurrent in Blake's voice. “Everything ok?”
“Jenaro Gomez is here,” Blake told him somberly, “and he's making statements with other people's body parts. I don't like the fact that Ms. Walker's investigation appears to be linked in with him. I don't know what the story is with your babysitting gig, but watch your back, gunny. I have a bad feeling about all of this.”
Michael watched as Damon materialized out of the trees next to the garage and started to move silently across the grass.
“I hear you,” he murmured, watching Damon. “I'll take care of this end. You just make sure you take care of yours.”
“Is she inside?” Damon asked, stepping onto the deck silently as Michael tucked his cell phone into his jeans pocket.
“Which one?” Michael asked dryly.
Damon's blue eyes rested on Michael thoughtfully.
“Mine,” he answered softly.
Michael's eyes met his steadily, flashing briefly at the subtle warning in Damon's voice before his lips tightened imperceptibly.
“No. She went out a few hours ago.” He watched as Damon leaned against the banister next to him. “The other one is in there working.”
“I hear you got assigned babysitting duty,” Hawk said, crossing his arms over his chest. His blue eyes glinted with amusement as he glanced at him. “How's that working out for you?”
“So far, uneventful,” Michael answered with a grin.
“Nice of you to give up some of your vacation to help out.” Damon's lips were twitching.
“I couldn't really refuse,” Michael retorted. “Besides, the look on her face was worth it.”
Damon chuckled.
“God, I wish I could have seen it,” he admitted. “Did Raven really go after the cat?”
“Yes.” Michael started laughing. “I'll give Jersey this: it's not dull.”
“You're from Brooklyn? Were you going to see your parents?”
Michael glanced at Damon. He wasn't sure he wanted to know how Hawk knew about his family.
“Yes, but it's ok,” he answered. “They didn't expect me to stay the whole week. Bingo and All-You-Can-Eat buffets aren't really my thing.”
Damon couldn't stop the grimace crossing his face.
“I can't imagine they would be,” he murmured.
“Where are you coming from?” Michael asked, glancing at him. “Lina thought you would show up for breakfast.”
“I had some things to take care of,” Damon answered.
“On foot?”
Damon grinned at the incredulous look on Michael's face.
“I have my bike. It's in the woods inside her security perimeter,” he told him. “It's easier to get in and out unseen through the back of the property.”
Michael considered him thoughtfully, but was silent.
“Tell her I'll be back tonight if you see her,” Damon said after a moment, straightening up and turning toward the steps.
“Come in and wait if you like,” Michael said. “It's a full house.”
Damon glanced at him with a faint smile.
“No thanks,” he murmured. “I'm not in the mood to be treated to a seminar on the beneficial effects of sandalwood and incense.”
Michael raised an eyebrow.
“Eh?”
“Ask Angela.” Damon started down the steps. “She'll be more than happy to explain.” Hawk got to the bottom step and paused. He turned and looked at Michael. “Move Angela's car into the garage so it can't be seen,” he told him.
“Is that necessary out here?” Michael asked.
“He knows where he last saw her,” Hawk answered. “He can find his way back.”
“Do you really think he'll come back?” Michael asked him, his gaze serious. “Why would he think she's still here?”
“When he can't find her, he'll go back to the last place he knows she was,” Hawk replied. He turned to leave again, but hesitated.
“What is it?” Michael asked.
Hawk raised cold, blue eyes to his.
“Viper trusts you,” he said softly. “Don't disappoint her.”
Michael nodded slowly, studying him.
“It's not just Kwan I should be worrying about, is it?” he asked.
Hawk smiled slightly.
“You're a quick learner, gunny,” he said, turning and striding across the lawn. A few seconds later, he disappeared into the trees.