Operation Stealing Christmas

by Vicki Hinze

  Will shuffled through the pictures until he came to one of special interest to him. “Here we go. See?” He passed the photo to Maggie. “No window.”

  “Okay, so you can prove it wasn’t there a month ago. When do you think it was installed?”

  The look in his eyes turned sober. “Within the last forty-eight hours.”

  Surprise rippled over the radio.

  “I find that difficult to believe,” Kate said. “Heck, we’ve been all over this place. We would have noticed someone installing a freaking window.”

  “We haven’t been on-site for forty-eight hours,” Justin countered.

  True, but the tight timing bothered Maggie, too. “Why forty-eight hours, Will?”

  “I pulled a facility check and documented my findings,” he said. “I didn’t find a window there, then.”

  “Did you submit that report to anyone?”

  “No, I held it,” he said. “Normally, I’d submit it by e-mail to Mr. Barone or give Linda a hard copy, but this time, I didn’t.”

  His tone warned Maggie he didn’t want to openly state why. She gave him that one, though it created a challenge for her. “So we can’t prove the report was done when you say it was done.”

  “The computer records when I created the report, but that’s it.” Will gave her a little shrug. “I do a lot of those type reports to back up my memory. I can’t very well vouch for what I did or didn’t know without a record. But I usually only forward the reports to Mr. Barone or Linda if something odd that they need to know turns up during the inspection.”

  “That’s conclusive enough for me,” Maggie said. “Forty-eight hours.” She mentally measured the distance from the banister to the window, then headed up to Level Three to reexamine the short-stack.

  Justin followed her.

  Maggie stopped at the door, leading into the short-stack. A keypad lock secured it. “Darcy, I need the code.”

  She relayed it. “Two, three, one, seven, nine, eight.” Maggie keyed in the series of numbers. A faint tone beeped, signaling the acceptance of each number—until the last one.

  “The final number didn’t hold, Darcy.” Maggie’s nerves stretched taut. “No beep.”

  “Are you sure you got it right—two, three, one, seven, nine, eight?”

  “That was it, yes.”

  “Try it again.”

  Maggie did. It still didn’t go through. “Hung up again on the final number.”

  “Darcy can’t be wrong, Maggie.” Justin stepped to Maggie’s side. “She has perfect recall.”

  Maggie glared over at him, irritated and more than a little worried. “Yes, I know.”

  “So what happened? Did you push the wrong number?”

  “No, Justin,” Maggie said slowly. “It means someone’s changed the code.” She held up a fingertip, warning him to back off. “Darcy, run the sequence to verify—”

  “It’s in progress,” she said before Maggie could finish issuing the order. “Computer program says it’s accurate and it is the same numerical sequence that successfully opened the short-stack for you, Justin and Will Stanton.”

  “Any odds that Will changed it?” Justin asked.

  “No,” Maggie said. “He doesn’t have the authority.”

  “Who does?” Justin asked, sounding as if he feared he already knew.

  Maggie frowned and confirmed it. “Barone, Which means he’s got some explaining to do.” She reached for her two-way clip.

  “Maggie, wait,” Darcy said. “Give me just a second to double-check something.”

  Maggie waited, her nerves raw and sizzling, her stomach curling over on itself. This window/code change wasn’t just a wrinkle in their defense. It was a flipping groove.

  “Barone hasn’t been up there.”

  Justin muttered something under his breath that Maggie didn’t catch. “Can he change the sequencing by remote?” Maggie asked Darcy.

  “No, he can’t. The system isn’t configured to allow him remote access.”

  “Who has been up here with access to the code and the ability to reprogram?”

  “No one.”

  Justin and Maggie’s gazes locked and her stomach sank. “That’s not possible, Darcy.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s fact. Colonel Drake has been reviewing the tapes and verified. No one has been up there since Dr. Crowe was there and ran his double-check. Not a soul has entered the short-stack since then.”

  Maggie spun through a series of possibilities that could have happened, only none of them proved any more probable than a remote shift of the code sequence. Out of ideas, she put the question to the group. “Any ideas, guys? What else could have happened?”

  Kate intervened. “Sounds like an automatic rotator, Maggie.”

  Justin hiked his shoulders, perplexed, so Maggie explained. “A rotator will automatically change the code to a new sequence after it’s been used a set number of times. Though honestly we’ve seen them used more on explosives devices, which is Kate’s specialty, than on security system locks.”

  “The colonel recommends you verify with Barone or Stanton.”

  “Stand by.” Maggie pulled out the two-way. “Will, I need you on...” She hesitated and then stopped and regrouped. “Level Three, Will, at Escalator Three,” she said, sending him to the other end of the building.

  Justin didn’t question her tactics. “Do I stay here or go with you?”

  “Stay put. Anyone tries to get in, hold them, and let me know.”

  He nodded, worry deepening the lines alongside his mouth.

  Maggie took off in a sprint down the thoroughfare, checking the rounds as she passed them. All were still netted.

  When she got to Escalator Three, Will hadn’t yet gotten there. A few shoppers straggled through this sector of the level, but for the most part, they hadn’t yet made it up to Level Three in any significant numbers. Furniture was up here, and traditionally it didn’t sell well during the holiday season.

  The elevator whirred softly and she stepped to the round and nodded at Donald Freeman, standing in the alcove between the Grimes and Stokes stores. “Tell me you haven’t been up here all this time without a break, Donald.”

  “Oh, no, ma’am.” He smiled at her. “Judy Meyer took a shift, then Cynthia Pratt did one. I just took back over from her.”

  Judy Meyer? She was supposed to be observing Barone. “Anything to report?”

  “Not a thing, so far, ma’am.” He straightened his shoulders. “But I’m not slacking.”

  Maggie smiled, liking him. “I’m counting on that.” She walked on. “Darcy, what happened to Judy Meyer being on Barone?”

  “Relieved. He asked her what the heck she was doing following him. Franklin Walker replaced her.”

  Will stepped out of the elevator nearest the escalator. He’d put on a fresh uniform shirt and shaved. “Maggie, what’s up?”

  Smelling his cologne, she walked with him out of earshot. “Do any of the security codes change by automatic rotator?”

  “Not so far as I know.”

  “Is there a way to change the codes without going to the keypads on the individual locks?”

  A tiny piece of tissue stuck to Will’s cheek where he’d nicked himself shaving. “You can change most of them through the master system lockbox.”

  That had to be what happened, then. “Take me to it.” Worry flickered across his face. “What’s going on, Maggie?”

  “I’ll explain on the way. I need to get to that lockbox.”

  “It’s down on Level One.” He took her down the service elevator to Level One, then to the security office. They rounded the marble counter and walked past the desks to the very back, far right corner.

  Will stopped in front of a door with a keypad lock and punched in his code. The door didn’t open.

  “What the—?” He tried it again.

  Still nothing.

  “You’re going to have to go to Barone,” Darcy said.

  Maggie cursed. “
Try it one more time, Will.” She really didn’t want to go to Barone. He’d have her answering questions, or trying to, for the next hour.

  Will tried his code a third time. The faint beep sounded on all the numbers except the last. “No luck.”

  Just great. That was it, then. She had no choice. Thumbing the catch, she unhooked the two-way and depressed the transmit button. “Linda?”

  “Linda Diel.”

  “Would you ask Mr. Barone to come to the security office please?”

  “Of course, Captain Holt.”

  Maggie didn’t want Will and Barone in the same room, not until she found out the truth. “Will, go up and relieve Dr. Crowe and send him down here. If anything biological is involved, I’m going to need him.”

  “Will do, Maggie.” He took off, and a scant four minutes later, Justin arrived.

  “Will says you need me down here,” he said to Maggie.

  “I wanted Will and Barone separated, and you down here,” she corrected him. “Something is definitely amiss and if it’s bio, you’re my man.”

  His eyes sparkled. “Absolutely.”

  Barone took a very long additional three minutes to walk the two doors down. Adding insult to injury, he looked well rested, groomed to perfection, and irritated at being summoned. “What is your problem, Captain Holt?”

  Major shift. His responsibility had become her problem. Very interesting. Morgan’s warnings about sudden behavioral shifts again ran through Maggie’s mind and the “he could be one of Kunz’s doubles” alarm again sounded in her mind. She played a hunch. “The rotator on the security system has changed all the codes. I need the new ones.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I need the new security codes,” she repeated, not risking a look at Justin. “The rotator has changed them.” Barone gave her a tight smile. “Captain, you’re mistaken.”

  “Oh, did you change them, then?”

  “No, I did not.” He walked around her to the lockbox door. “Nothing has been done to change the security codes and there is no automatic rotator on Santa Bella’s system. You’re mistaken.”

  He looked and sounded sincere. Maggie didn’t trust him, or fully trust her judgment about him, but the possibility of him offering a resolution to the problem had come to a dead end. “Kate, I need gear.”

  “I’m grabbing it now,” she answered into Maggie’s earpiece. “Give me two minutes.”

  “Captain Holt?” Barone crossed his arms. “Would you please explain what you’ve done to my security system?”

  “I haven’t done anything to it, Mr. Barone,” she said. “But it appears that someone has changed all of your security codes.”

  Shock too raw not to be genuine registered on his face. “That’s impossible. How could this happen and we not know it?”

  “I can’t yet answer that,” Maggie said.

  His voice turned angry, doubtful. “You must be mistaken, Captain.”

  Arguing with him would be futile. “Fine, Mr. Barone.” She motioned to the lockbox door. “Would you open this please?”

  He shot her a frosty glare laced with disdain, then shouldered her out of his way and coded the lock.

  Nothing happened.

  He tried again.

  Still nothing happened.

  Stepping back, he turned his temper on Will, just as Maggie feared he would. “Will Stanton must have done this. Where is he?”

  “No,” Maggie said sharply, her jaw and voice tight. “We know for fact Will has done nothing.”

  “Then what’s happened?” Barone shouted. “I demand an explanation.”

  Thank God Will couldn’t hear the conversation or else he’d be ticked off enough to tell Barone to shove the job and walk out. Barone could go, but Maggie needed Will. She stepped closer to Barone, bent on cooling things down. “We’re attempting to determine that now, Mr. Barone. We’ll report our findings to you as soon as possible. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll get back to the investigation.”

  Kate came in swinging her gear pack and pushed Barone aside. “Move over, please. I need room to maneuver.” Barone automatically backed up, but he ignored Maggie’s dismissal.

  Kate dropped the gear bag. “You need help?”

  “I think I can manage.” Maggie nodded. “If not, I’ll yell.”

  “Okay, then. I’ll be back at Center Court.”

  “Thanks.” Maggie watched her go, and then went to work on the lock.

  Through her earpiece, she heard Kate radio Darcy. “Find something for Barone to do to get him out of their way, will you?”

  “Send him to me,” Amanda suggested. “The kids are having a great time in the snow. Maybe he’ll get whacked with a stray snowball or something.”

  “We can but hope,” Justin whispered.

  Maggie hid a smile behind her hand. “Mr. Barone,” Maggie said. “My associate at Center Court, Captain West, would like to consult with you on something.”

  “Of course.” He stared at Maggie. “I expect a full report on this—and a satisfactory explanation. Security of this facility is Will Stanton’s responsibility.”

  True to form, Barone shifted blame, covering his back. Disgusting slug.

  Justin looked as if he’d like to knock Barone down a notch or two just for general principles, but he bit his tongue and ignored Barone’s crisp nod.

  When Barone walked out, Kate grunted, the sound carrying through the earpiece. “That man’s underwear must be too tight.”

  Maggie looked back at Justin and grinned.

  “Miracles do happen,” Justin said. “Maggie’s showing me her teeth, and she’s not snarling.”

  “Impossible.” Darcy sounded adamant, then ruined it by laughing.

  Maggie pulled out something sharp and pointed it at Justin. “Not one more word or I’ll sic Kate on you. All I have to do is mention Aruba.”

  “What happened in Aruba?” Justin asked.

  “Absolutely nothing,” Kate said, her disgust evident.

  Darcy filled Justin in. “Kate and Nathan’s romantic vacation got preempted by Kunz’s goons planting explosives on a federal installation.”

  Justin sighed, watching Maggie work. “Bet the goons regretted it.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Darcy said.

  Her tone had Justin speculating. “She shot them didn’t she?” he asked no one in particular. “Never mind. Stupid question. Of course, she shot them.”

  “Shut up, Justin,” Maggie muttered. “I’m focusing.”

  “I knew it,” he muttered. “She shot the goons for messing up her vacation.”

  “Crowe.” Kate practically growled. “Drop Aruba. Final warning.”

  The door popped open.

  Darcy let out a swooshed breath.

  “Whoa, baby!” Maggie threw up her arms. “Stand back.” A full brick of C-4 explosives.

  “Colonel, give notice up the chain of command and to the Threat Integration Center. Alert the local First Responders, Darcy.”

  “I don’t have visual. What is it?” Colonel Drake asked. “What did you find?”

  Maggie shook. “Enough C-4 to blow up the facility and leave one huge crater.” She moved around the edge of the doorway, fully into the lockbox. “And a triggering device. Kate, I know you’re hovering outside the security office door, just in case I needed you. Come take a look at this.” Bio and weaponry systems, not explosives, was Maggie’s area of expertise. Kate had the fix on explosives and triggering devices.

  Kate stepped into the lockbox and followed Maggie’s lead. “It’s set to trigger when someone opens the short-stack door, Colonel,” Kate said.

  “Can you disarm it?” Darcy asked. “Or do I need to bring in a bomb squad?”

  “It’s rudimentary,” Kate said. “If you like, I can have it disarmed in two, maybe three minutes.”

  “Thanks,” Maggie said. “Go ahead.” She turned her attention to Darcy. “I want this area cleared and a disposal team on standby. As soon as Kate clears the device, I w
ant these explosives out of the facility.”

  “HAZMAT is en route now. Judy Meyer’s vacating the admin wing.”

  Security and Matt Elden’s HAZMAT team were getting a real workout on this mission.

  “Watch for a backup trigger, Kate,” Maggie reminded her.

  “Definitely,” Amanda added. “Remember, this is Kunz.”

  “Oh, yeah. And he loves redundancies.” Kate grimaced and kept working. “I’m all over it.”

  Maggie heard a strange sound and looked over at Justin. He was green around the gills. She moved over, clasped his arm. “Justin, are you all right?”

  “Uh, yeah. Yeah.” He gave himself a shake. “It’s just—wow, Maggie. You expect C-4 on a battlefield, not at the shopping mall. Maybe for you it’s typical, but for me... The man who’d do this is crazy.”

  “Oh, no, Justin. No,” Maggie assured him. “Thomas Kunz is many things, but he’s not crazy.” She knew what he meant about the shock of it, too. “It isn’t typical for S.A.S.S., either. It’s just that we’ve come to know to expect the worst from him, and he always delivers it.” Maggie rubbed circles on Justin’s shoulder and dropped her voice. “Breathe slow and deep, okay? You’re hyperventilating.”

  “Oh, fantastic.” He grumbled and groused. “This is humiliating.”

  Maggie found this side of him totally endearing. “If you weren’t worried, I’d be checking your pulse. But don’t worry about this device.” Maggie nodded toward the lockbox. “Kate is hands-down the best there is at explosive devices.”

  “Piece of cake, Justin.” Kate stuck a wire between her teeth and pinched another with a red-handled set of needle-nose pliers.

  “Humiliating,” he muttered.

  “No, it’s charming.” Maggie looked at Justin, surprised by the words coming out of her own mouth, surprised by his obviously pleased reaction, and seriously surprised—and worried—about the bonding going on between them. Amazing for that to happen—especially here and now, under these conditions—but moments of high intensity often brought out the most intense emotions.

  And why that reassured her when it should scare her to death, Maggie couldn’t say. But it did. Morgan had been right. She’d said the human spirit and connections binding people were stronger than any crisis. Still, the comfort that came with knowing it was nothing short of a miracle.