Calculated Entrapment

by K. T. Lee

  “Oh yeah.” Nash continued to stare at the box. “Considering how thick it is, with no outlets to the outside, it’s more like a treasure chest than scientific equipment. Oh! That’s it. We’ve been having some trouble with the seismometer when the equipment gets jolted on the ocean floor. I bet they want to do some geological work but need more precise measurements. The weight of the metal might help too, especially if they scale up to the size on the drawing.”

  Joey crossed his arms and his question was remarkably casual. “Why do you need that level of precision with a seismometer for mining?”

  “If they want to drill, I’ve got to assume too much seismic activity could wreck equipment if it’s delicate enough. They want to go into less geologically active places. But…you make a good point.” Nash looked at them conspiratorially. “Wait. Where did they want to drop this?”

  “They said whatever was close, just off the coastline to test it.”

  Nash crossed his arms smugly. “Hm. They want to make sure it will work without letting anyone know where they want to do the actual work yet. They test it in California because they aren’t actually going to do the work here. Or…” Nash tapped his chin with a finger. “No, that’s…well…”

  Stefanie gave him a little time. She knew Nash well enough to know that if she just waited, he wouldn’t be able to help himself.

  Nash’s eyes darted between her and Joey. Finally, he sighed. “Okay, this might sound a little strange, but it’d be a great way to learn about submarine activity near our coastline.”

  “What would make you go there?” Joey tilted his head.

  “My brother is in the Navy and he serves on a submarine. Our readouts are sometimes affected by marine activity. It’s not a big leap. Full disclosure, I also stay up way too late most nights reading technothrillers. Yes, a seismometer would detect geological activity, but if it’s right off of the California coast, they could get early warning of our Navy’s location. San Diego would be the obvious choice, but the Bay Area is far enough away they wouldn’t raise any warning flags.” Nash pulled out his cell phone. “I need to call my brother. He’d probably know something about this.”

  Stefanie shot a wild look to Joey. She reached out a hand towards Nash’s phone. “Nash, I don’t want you to get in trouble. I’ll take care of it.”

  Nash lowered his phone, but his face was pure suspicion. Yes, he’d definitely read too many thrillers. Although, in this case, his paranoia was well-founded.

  Joey stood up and walked over to the door, then closed it. Nash’s eyes darted between them. Waffle, sensing his panic, got closer to him. “I don’t want to scare you, Nash. But I think you’re right.” He looked at Stefanie. “We need to tell him.”

  Stefanie rubbed her face with her hand. “Is that a good idea?” As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she realized asking the question alone rendered its answer unnecessary. “Nash, you might want to sit down.”

  Joey put a hand on Stefanie’s shoulder. “Stef, let me take this. Nash, Stefanie already knows this, but I’m actually not an intern. I work for the U.S. Navy and we were worried a foreign government might plan something like this. With Stefanie’s permission, I embedded myself here to see if there was anything to be worried about. Obviously, there is. I just didn’t expect anyone but Stefanie and me to notice.”

  “But you knew what you were doing in the lab.” Nash eyed him carefully.

  “Did I?” Joey raised his eyebrows. “I thought I was just following your instructions.”

  Nash looked away for a moment, then looked back at Joey. “Were you checking on me?”

  Joey shook his head. “Not just you. You passed our background check well enough that I wasn’t especially worried, just cautious. However, now I’m fairly certain you’re on our side. Like Stef.”

  “Fairly certain?” Nash narrowed his eyes.

  Stef snickered. “Don’t take it personally, Nash. Joey doesn’t trust anyone.”

  Waffle rested his head on Nash’s knee. Nash patted Waffle’s ears, then looked back up at them with more trust than they deserved. “Okay. So, what do we do? Are you going to call your management? Do we confront them?”

  “The best way to help us is to just focus on your job.” Joey leaned in. “Keep an ear to the ground and let me know if you hear anything. Just like Stefanie. She’s only here to let me know if she sees anything, nothing more.”

  Stefanie fought the urge to correct him but understood the need for the deception. Nash could likely be trusted, but he’d been here longer than either of them. He had more than ample opportunity to be a player in this mess. Stefanie nodded earnestly. “Joey keeps what I know to a minimum. Mostly, I just know he’s here to help.”

  Nash scratched his chin. “I mean, we should at least tell Cole.”

  Stefanie shook her head a little too furiously for someone who was just playing a bit part. “No. We don’t know if he’s involved. He set up the meeting, after all.”

  “Okay. I’ll let you know if he tells me anything else about our customers.” Nash nodded, with finality.

  Joey gave Nash a card with a phone number on it. “Thank you, Nash. If, for some reason, I’m not in the building, call me if you see anything. I don’t want to make a bigger deal of this than it actually is. These guys may just be three consultants doing their jobs. We can learn a lot by just watching and waiting to see what they do. We might let them continue with their experiment just to see what happens. If we know what they’re doing, we can put false signals nearby. But we need to keep this between the three of us. Not Peggy, not Cole, or anyone else.”

  Nash crossed his arms. “Speaking of, Stef and I have a call with Cole soon to let him know how the meeting went. I usually call from our small conference room. Want to listen in, intern?”

  Joey grinned. “You bet.” He let Nash leave the room first, then turned to face Stefanie. “You alright?”

  “I mean, I have to be.” Stefanie swallowed hard. “At least we know they’re probably being cagy because Dmitri wants to spy on our submarines. Thank goodness it doesn’t involve explosives.” She leaned down to give Waffle a pat, and he wagged his tail by way of reply. Joey put a hand on her back, and she leaned into him for just a moment. “You’re not nearly the pain in the butt I thought you’d be.”

  Joey laughed. “Wow, thank you. Let’s head to the meeting and see if letting Nash into this, even a little, was a bad idea. Then, once we’re out of the room, Alexis will come get the box your customers left and see if we missed anything. And ensure Nash didn’t expose himself to anything when he picked it up. Gang, we’re signing off so we don’t get distracted. You should be able to catch us on the surveillance cameras. Turn on our earpieces remotely if you need to talk.”

  Joey turned off his earpiece and Stefanie followed suit. She led him to the conference room where Nash was projecting a presentation about their latest activities. They sat down just as the beep of someone joining the conference call sounded.

  19

  Joey sat at the circular table in the space between Nash and Stefanie. Nash had been on the verge of calling Cole to tell them something was off, and Joey didn’t have much of a choice but to intervene. Neither Alexis nor Matt had openly questioned Joey about it yet. Trusting Nash had been his decision, and he’d fix it himself if he’d made the wrong call. Hopefully, it hadn’t been the wrong call. Nash was telling the truth about his brother. Alexis had completed a real-time check while they’d been talking to him, so that was something.

  Cole’s voice boomed through the line. “Good afternoon, everyone. How did the meeting with our newest customers go?”

  Nash’s eyes went wide, but Stefanie smoothly took over. “It went extremely well. The team seems eager to get started. They have a custom device they’d like to test out close to where we typically operate. I know I’m pretty new here, but I took that as good news. I did ask them to provide a certification that they weren’t planning on dropping anything harmful into the ocean
and they agreed to it.”

  “It’s very good news, indeed. I’ll have Peggy send them our standard forms. When do they want to book a space?”

  “This weekend, if possible.” Stefanie exchanged a look with Joey. “And they want to accompany us on our data run tomorrow.”

  “Wonderful. You’ll take them, of course. I’ll have Peggy reserve The Dog House to deploy their equipment this weekend.”

  Stefanie tapped a finger against her lips, obviously deciding how hard to push. They were close to the truth and Stefanie had a brain for strategy. Joey gave her an encouraging nod, hoping it was enough to help. “Sir, I do have a quick question. They didn’t disclose what they were sending and we’re operating near California. Can we get whatever permissions and permits we need this quickly and at a reasonable cost?”

  Cole’s answer was a little too easy. “Oh yes. I’ll have our legal team sort it out, but it should be no problem at all for important customers.”

  Nash eyed the speakerphone skeptically. He looked back at them and mouthed, “It’s not that easy.”

  “Oh, wonderful! Let us know the time and place, and we’ll get everything ready on our end.” Stefanie’s voice was bright, but her hands were shaking, just a little. She folded them on her lap. “Would you like to see the rest of what we’ve put together? Nash and I have been working on a prototype platform I’d love to show you.”

  Cole’s voice was less enthusiastic than Joey expected. “I’d be happy to take a closer look some other time. Right now, I have another meeting. Send me an email with everything, and I’ll read through it before we talk again. Good job, team. I’m looking forward to hearing from our happy customers.”

  Nash pressed the end button on the speakerphone and thumped back into his chair. He eyed them each critically. “Usually, permits take forever. Or at least weeks. They’re never that fast.”

  “Maybe they know someone that can expedite it?” Joey’s expression was inscrutable. “Or our friends got permission before they asked?” He brushed his ear. “I’ll check it out.”

  Alexis’s voice came through the earpiece and Stefanie startled, just a little. She was piping in sound to them both now. “Checking now. Wrap things up with Nash. He’s figuring things out too quickly. I’ll be in the lobby in a couple of minutes to grab Waffle.”

  Stefanie checked the time. “I’m so sorry, I need to go out to give Waffle back to my friend.”

  “It’s 4:37. That seems like an odd time to meet.” Nash crossed his arms.

  Stefanie laughed, but even Joey could tell it was forced. “I know. I’m late. I was supposed to be out there at 4:30.”

  Nash eyed her skeptically. Joey asked him another question about the prototype to give her some breathing room, and she slipped out with Waffle in tow.

  * * *

  Stefanie retreated from a conference room that was getting smaller by the second. She whispered her movements into her earpiece. While she’d been the first to jump to Nash’s defense, her overactive nerves were starting to suspect everyone. She laid a hand on Waffle and he nudged his head into her hand for a pet. She took a deep breath and retreated to the lobby. Waffle trotted faithfully next to her and wagged his tail furiously when he spotted his mistress. Alexis praised him and pulled Stefanie in for a hug. They were supposed to be old friends, but the gesture still took her by surprise. Alexis whispered, “Great job in there. You’re as big of a badass as your sister.” She snorted. “You asked them about a frog. I love it. That’s a new one, even for me.”

  Waffle and Alexis left in their matching shirt and dog vest with “Bay Area Barks” emblazoned on them. When Stefanie turned around, Peggy was watching her carefully. Stefanie grinned. “How cute was our employee for the day? I have to tell my friend that her business is a genius idea.”

  “As long as no one is allergic to dogs, I think Waffle would be welcome just about anywhere he went.” Peggy looked over the top of her reading glasses. “I’d love to work up a little get-to-know-you sheet on him like I did for you!”

  The hair on the back of Stefanie’s neck stood up. She’d never replied to Peggy’s email. “Oh, fun! I didn’t realize you’d put something together. I know I still owe you a response.”

  “It’s no trouble at all!” Peggy waved a hand in the air. “I figured you were busy, so I did some of my own research and sent some fun facts to Cole already. Oh! That reminds me! I found your sister’s rocket research lab online when I was searching for your information. We both thought that was really interesting – Cole even asked for the website. Isn’t that sweet? I might have to use her for research for one of my books. What’s it like having an actual rocket scientist in the family?”

  Stefanie’s blood ran cold even as her instincts forced her not to panic. Cole, the man she was almost certain was collaborating with Dmitri, had been asking questions about Ree? She should have listened to her initial instincts, and now she needed to know what Peggy knew. A few beats later, she heard Joey in her earpiece. “Say Ree’s name if you need me.”

  Stefanie cleared her throat and attempted a smile. “My sister is great. Her life is pretty low key even though she works in a propulsion lab. Apparently, working with rocket fuel isn’t as cool as it sounds. Don’t let her fool you though, breaking stuff for a living is definitely fun. And it’s probably where I get my love for all things mechanical. When did you find that out? You really do go above and beyond in getting to know the employees here!”

  “It’s nothing, really. Oh, maybe a week or so ago?” Stefanie did the mental math. Cole knew about Ree before he requested that she meet with the three consultants. Her palms began to sweat. Peggy seemed not to notice. “Do you see her often?”

  Stefanie shrugged and kept it vague. She managed not to wipe her sweaty hands on her pants, which was a small victory. “Not as often as I would like. We try to stay connected but sometimes work gets busy, and we don’t get the chance.” Peggy nodded with understanding but didn’t provide any more information. Time for a redirect. “Does your sheet say that you write books?”

  “Oh no. That’s our little secret.” Peggy blushed. “Well, it will be when I tell you my pen name. But I would like your official form as soon as you can – it’s more formal than just me finding articles online.”

  “Well, let me see what I can put together for you, okay?”

  Peggy smiled. “That would be great, honey.”

  “Of course.” Stefanie walked at a normal speed back to the labs, cursing silently in her head the whole way. Joey’s Nonna would have used her wooden spoon on the back of Stefanie’s head if she could read her thoughts. Well, it wasn’t so much coherent thoughts as it was the f-bomb, on repeat.

  Joey met her at the door. “Hey, I’ve got to get going. I hope it’s okay if I leave a couple of minutes early.”

  Stefanie made a show of checking her watch, just in case her observant coworker was watching. “Me too. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  Joey flipped his car keys in his hand. “Until tomorrow.”

  * * *

  When Stefanie pulled into her driveway, she spotted Joey in his car in the street. When she parked, he got out of his car and followed her in, shutting the door behind them. Finally, with some measure of safety, panic set in. Stefanie fought to breathe. “It’s my sister. This is about my sister. I knew it and I talked myself out of it. It’s Cole and maybe even Peggy. But she’s so sweet and what–”

  Joey put a hand on her arm to cut off her runaway thoughts. “Hey. It doesn’t matter. We’ll watch them both. You made a breakthrough. This is a good thing, not a bad thing.”

  “I didn’t figure anything out. I just talked to Peggy.” Stefanie whirled around, tears in her eyes.

  Joey cocked an eyebrow. “What exactly do you think my job is?”

  Stefanie sniffed. “Giving me a hard time?”

  Joey winked. “That comes for free.” He took a step closer. “You’re deflecting. This is okay. Good, even.”

 
Stefanie’s eyes flashed. “Good? Why is any of this good? Finding out that the spy planted at the OEG is especially interested in my sister’s personal information? That my life’s work ultimately resulted in putting my sister in danger? This is good?”

  “Okay, before I end up permanently on your shit list, hear me out.” Joey put his hands up. “Then, if you’re still upset, we’ll put on some pads and work it out at the gym.”

  A knock on the door interrupted their verbal sparring match. Stefanie let Alexis and Waffle in. “Nice work, girlfriend.” Alexis gave her a high five. Stefanie returned it woodenly and led them to the kitchen. “Matt’s on the first flight back to Indiana to help Parker keep an eye on Ree. We’ve already started background checks on Peggy, but I think if she’s working for Dmitri, she wouldn’t be that transparent. My guess is she’s too trusting, not a co-conspirator.”

  Joey gave her a look that said, “See?”

  Stefanie harrumphed. Waffle took that as a cue to nudge his head under her hand. “You were a very good boy today.”

  “What, the dog gets positive reinforcement while you practically breathe fire at me?” Joey lifted his eyebrows.

  Alexis looked between them with suspicion and Stefanie quickly recovered. “Sorry. You speak better English than Waffle does.”

  Waffle thumped his backside onto her foot, leaning into the pet. Alexis quipped, “I don’t know. Some days, I swear he understands me.” She eyed Stefanie curiously. “Why were you breathing fire at your bodyguard?”

  Stefanie cringed.

  “Oh. Sorry. Not helpful?”

  “I put Ree in danger. And I left a decent, well-paying job only to point a spy right at my sister!” Stefanie put a hand to her forehead. “Oh, and I detected his transmitter on my phone but let Cole talk me out of thinking it was a problem. I can’t believe I fell for it.”

  Joey eyed her. “So, to recap. You took a job offer at your dream company, listened to your boss’s answer when you asked him a question, and that makes this…your fault?”