Randall craned his neck to better see what name she was pointing at. “Jonathan Coleman?”
“Jonathan was a favorite of Miguel’s. He said that Jonathan...” She pulled in a shaky breath and willed herself to go on. “Miguel said that Jonathan reminded him of a younger version of himself. My husband was sure that Jonathan could go far.”
A tingle crept down Nora’s spine. “Was your husband upset when Jonathan left the Institute?”
“He was always saddened when students made choices he didn’t agree with. Three nights ago...” Carmen glanced up and again stared out past the row of cars lining the street, squinting her eyes in an effort to remember. “He told me he’d learned something that concerned him, and that he needed to contact Jonathan, needed to be sure that the boy was all right.”
“And did he? Contact him?”
“He tried. He emailed and phoned, but Jonathan didn’t answer either. I thought that was the end of it.”
“Thank you, Carmen. You’ve been very helpful.” Nora pulled out a business card and handed it to Miguel’s wife as she and Randall stood. “If you think of anything else, anything at all, please call me at that number.”
Carmen nodded. Randall and Nora started down the walk, but turned back at the sound of her voice. “Find who did this. Find the person who has brought this tragedy upon our home, our family. Promise me that you will do that.”
“We’ll try.” Which suddenly seemed inadequate to Nora. There were so many good people in the world. When their lives were touched by tragedy, by persons without scruples, she felt it was her personal responsibility to bring those guilty parties to justice—man or woman, someone working alone or in tandem with others.
Her job was to find them and get them off the street.
What happened to them after that wasn’t her concern.
Nora didn’t give much thought to how the legal system handled the perps she turned over to them. She trusted, perhaps naively, that the process of justice would move as it should. But that process began here, on the street, with her and Randall.
“I have the distinct feeling we’re running out of time.”
“Same.”
Nora plugged Jonathan’s address into her phone, surprised to see it was located on the other side of town and not surprised to see it was fairly near the docks. Another piece of the puzzle slipped into piece. It might not explain who had killed Garcia, but it explained why he was there.
“Are you watching your normal channels, looking for bumps or unusual activity on cyber fronts?”
“I am. I also wrote a program last night that’s more specific to Seattle.”
“When did you sleep?”
He waved that idea away. “I’ll catch up when this is over.”
She grunted at that idea as they pulled out on the road. “If this is a cyber attack, and to me it’s looking increasingly like it is, then it can’t be about cruise ships.”
“Agreed.”
“Especially empty cruise ships. They’d make a much juicier target if they were full of passengers.”
“So what’s the point?”
“It’s a distraction. It has to be.”
“And as we’re running down that problem...”
“They attack on another front.” She glanced over at him. “Where else is Seattle uniquely vulnerable?”
“They’re a tech center.” Randall tapped and scrolled past various screens on his phone. “They’ve added more tech jobs in the last two years than any other city.”
“All right. That could make them a big juicy target in some weirdo’s mind.”
“Silicon Valley seems to be fleeing to Seattle.”
“Explain that to me.”
“Amazon and Microsoft have a presence here, as do Alphabet and Facebook, plus a wide range of tech startups.”
“Why Seattle?”
“Affordable housing.”
“Seriously?”
“Compared to California, plus Washington has no state income tax.” Randall frowned at his phone. “Not everyone is happy about that growth. Median rentals have seen a big jump, cost of living is up overall, and the traffic...”
They both stared at the snarl of traffic they’d landed in. “I can’t believe we’re having this problem at ten thirty in the morning. Why aren’t these people at work?”
“Maybe our perp is a Seattle native who doesn’t approve of the changes.”
“Or a survivalist who thinks tech is going to bring about the collapse of civilization.”
“We just had one of those. Isn’t it time for something different?”
The bantering helped ease the tension in her shoulders. Still, there was something they were missing, and that made her antsy. She could prepare for what she could envision, but the thing they hadn’t thought of? That was harder to tackle.
“Huh.” Randall tapped a few more times on his phone, then looked up at her.
“Find something?”
“Ninety percent of Seattle’s electricity is produced using hydropower.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“It is unless you’re an Orca whale.” Randall spent the rest of the drive looking at the environmental protests regarding the Lower Snake River dams.
He read her stories about Tahlequah, the mother orca who carried her dead calf a thousand miles, and how the entirety of Washington state became embroiled in preserving one of the Northwest’s most iconic symbols.
As he read, Nora considered whether they could be dealing with an environmentalist who’d decided to take things into their own hands. Possibly. Certainly there had been environmental controversies surrounding cruise ships. She wasn’t ready to jump that direction yet, but hopefully Jonathan Coleman could shed some light on what threat they were facing.
The fact that they were depending on a high school dropout for guidance didn’t surprise her one bit.
Security Breach Page 13