Risk Everything

by Janie Crouch

  Tanner rubbed the back of his neck. “We can’t automatically assume it was Jared. He’s got that ankle monitor, and it sends a notification if he goes out of his set range. My colleague in Denver assures me it isn’t hackable.”

  Bree actually laughed out loud, rolling her eyes. “Okay. We’ll just let them go on believing that. Everything is hackable.”

  He reached over and grabbed his little computer genius’s hand. “Everything is hackable by you. The chances that Jared has someone with your skill in his personal list of friends—no matter how many fraternity brothers he has—is slim.”

  Bree nodded. “Agreed. All I’m saying is that a false sense of security that something can’t be hacked might lead to laziness on law enforcement’s part.”

  Tanner couldn’t disagree with that. Not when the department already didn’t have a stellar showing when it came to this situation.

  A text came in on his phone from Ronnie. Finally a little good news.

  “Ronnie got the log for Jared’s monitor. According to the reports, he was not anywhere around Risk Peak at the time of the fire. He hasn’t been out of Denver city limits since he made bail.”

  “Unless he did have someone who could hack the anklet for him,” Bree said.

  “Could you tell if it had been tampered with?” Tanner asked her. “Would you be able to see if the reports of his whereabouts were wrong?”

  “From the source computer or the anklet itself, yes,” she said.

  “Then maybe it’s time you and I took a little field trip. A nice tour of the Denver County Warrants and Bonding Office seems like a great idea.”

  Chapter Six

  “You let me do the talking, okay?”

  Bree rolled her eyes. “Remember how for as long you’ve known me, I’ve never had any sort of desire to talk to people? Still true.”

  It was the next morning and Bree and Tanner were on their way to the Denver County Warrants and Bonding Office. Tanner had wanted to come yesterday, but by four o’clock the person they’d needed to see was already gone, he’d found out with disgust.

  But it was better they made the trip today, since it had given Bree time to research the monitoring system being used on Jared. She had to admit, this one was sophisticated—definitely high-end. Most types of ankle monitors were meant for nonviolent first-time offenders—people who needed to be scared into staying in one place and were a pretty low flight risk overall. Those units were pretty easily hackable and would’ve definitely been a mistake in Jared’s case.

  But this version of electronic monitoring was much more advanced. Had been used successfully all over the country without anyone being able to escape undetected.

  Regardless, Bree wanted to check out this system for herself. Wanted to know for certain Marilyn and the kids were safe. The easiest way to do that was through official access at the bonding office.

  Of course, she could’ve hacked the system without official access, but she didn’t even bring that possibility up. For some absurd reason, her law enforcement husband-to-be didn’t like breaking the law. Go figure.

  “I’m not going to explain to them outright what we’re doing unless I have to,” Tanner said. “Parnam didn’t seem like a bad guy, but he definitely isn’t interested in adding to his workload. Nobody in the warrants and bonding office is going to like us peeking over their shoulder to double-check their work. So let’s try not to inform them.”

  Bree let out a frustrated sigh. “And what about Marilyn and the kids? Do they care at all that if Jared has found some way to circumvent the monitoring system, he might put Marilyn back in the hospital or worse?”

  “As far as the law is concerned, Marilyn is protected because she has that restraining order.”

  “That restraining order isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on if Jared decides he’s willing to risk getting away with it.”

  Tanner’s long fingers wrapped around hers where her hand rested on her legs. “I agree, and that’s why we’ve got Noah on the lookout. Ronnie has also volunteered to do some lookout shifts during his time off, and when Richard Whitaker heard about it, he offered also.”

  She had to smile at Whitaker’s name. “How is our old friend the jackass?”

  “He’s coming to the wedding, you know.”

  The other officer was Tanner’s counterpoint in the northern section of the county. He’d accused both Bree and Tanner of murder last year, but then had helped take care of Bree when Tanner had been near death in the hospital.

  “I’m glad Marilyn will have protection,” she said. “But we both know these are temporary measures.”

  “Just because Jared’s lawyer managed to convince a judge that he’s not a flight risk doesn’t mean that he’s not going to go to jail for a long time for what he did to her. I’ve seen the evidence. So even if we have to take turns watching over her and the kids for the next four months until the trial, we’ll do it. Everyone is willing to help her out in that way.”

  She squeezed his hand, her heart filling up almost painfully with the emotions she felt for him. He was such a good man. Willing to do whatever he had to do to make sure the people who depended on him were safe.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, wishing she was better with words. Better at expressing everything she felt inside herself for him.

  He brought her hand to his lips. “Marilyn and those kids deserve a fresh start. A future that doesn’t involve pain or fear. All of us want to give them that.”

  “I do too.” And she was going to do whatever she had to do to get the information she needed from that computer. If she could prove that Jared had been around Risk Peak during the fire—hell, anytime since he’d been released—he’d be spending the rest of his time awaiting trial behind bars.

  Where he belonged.

  They pulled up at the bonding office, attached to the courthouse and Denver marshals’ office.

  “I’m just going to introduce you as a computer expert,” Tanner said as they got out of the vehicle. “I don’t think anyone around here knows either of us, so introducing you as my colleague shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.”

  She gave a brisk nod. “IT colleague here to help make sure that data is running smoothly between two different systems. Got it. Piece of cake.”

  They signed in at the front desk and made their way up a single flight of stairs to Parnam’s office. The door was half open and Parnam, a pudgy man in his midfifties, an office phone lodged between his shoulder and jaw, gestured for them to come in. His voice was a blend of boredom and exhaustion as he read a series of numbers to whoever was on the phone.

  Bree and Tanner took seats across from his desk as he hung up.

  “Mr. Parnam, I’m Tanner Dempsey. This is IT expert Ms. Daniels.”

  Bree noticed how adeptly Tanner avoided lying. Kept it just general enough to avoid telling any untruths. Bree was an IT expert, after all.

  “Dempsey. Ms. Daniels.” Parnam nodded his head at both of them. “I’ve already sent you all the reports I have on Jared Ellis. I looked into the case a little myself, and I really am sorry Mrs. Ellis wasn’t notified. We had two people retire in the last six months and their positions haven’t been backfilled, so, like I said, things just sometimes slip through the cracks.”

  Tanner raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry to hear you’re trying to work three people’s jobs, because in a situation like this, Mrs. Ellis could’ve been hurt or worse, not even knowing there was any possible danger out there.”

  Parnam settled his weight back in his chair. “Well, in my defense, Ellis does have the ankle monitor on. If he had gone anywhere near his wife, it would’ve set off all sorts of alarms. That thing is unhackable.”

  Bree got straighter in her chair, trying to swallow the words bubbling up her throat at his utter faith in technology. She’d spent most of her childhood within an organization that
made it their mission in life to hack information systems and use it to their advantage.

  Nothing was unhackable.

  Next to her, Tanner cleared his throat. His fingers, resting on his knees, made a swiping gesture over and over. She got the message: don’t do anything stupid like argue with Parnam. She forced herself to relax in the chair.

  “Be that as it may,” Tanner said. “Ms. Daniels is here to make sure there won’t be any problem with the data communicating between the Denver County and Grand County systems.”

  “Whatever.” Parnam let out a weary sigh. “What do you need?”

  “Ten minutes on the monitoring system,” Bree responded. “I’ve already made sure our system is ready. I just need to double-check a couple of things in your system.”

  Parnam nodded and escorted Bree and Tanner to a separate office that contained a computer, a worktable with miscellaneous electronic equipment and sensors, and a couple of hard plastic chairs.

  “This is where everything is calibrated and connected. Every offender to be fitted with a monitor comes in here, and those with the particular version being used for Jared Ellis come back once a week to make sure the calibration is still correct and the GPS system is online.”

  “But Ellis hasn’t been back yet, right? He’s not scheduled for a few more days?” Tanner asked.

  “Actually, the tech should’ve had him in this morning. I put in the request since there was such concern from Grand County—I wanted to cover our bases. I haven’t heard about any results yet, though. Those would go straight to the Denver marshals. Once I set up the initial paperwork, I’m pretty much out of the loop. If someone does go outside of their monitor’s set parameters, the call goes to the Denver marshals, with a backup call to the Denver sheriff’s departments. But their offices are here in the same building, so I usually hear about it.”

  “You don’t work for the sheriff’s department?” Bree asked.

  “Parnam is a state employee, not law enforcement,” Tanner said.

  “Exactly. I’m just in charge of paperwork. I don’t make the decision on who goes free or not—that’s the judge. I don’t chase down the people who decide to hammer off their anklet—that’s the cops. I’m just trying to make sure everything gets filed correctly.”

  And the dude did not sound very excited about his job—not that Bree blamed him.

  “So just go ahead and do what you need to do. You said it would only take a few minutes?” Parnam leaned up against the doorway.

  She doubted he would know enough about computers to understand what she was going to do, but it would be a lot more complicated with him looking over her shoulder the whole time. She glanced over at Tanner, who gave her a brief nod.

  Tanner put his hand on Parnam’s shoulder. “Conrad, you probably don’t get told this a lot, and that’s a shame. But your job is very important. Just think of how long it would’ve taken for Mrs. Ellis to be notified that Jared had been released if it wasn’t for you. I appreciate your hard work.”

  Bree sat down at the computer and managed not to roll her eyes. Tanner. That man could be the epitome of fierce warrior when the need called for it. She’d seen that herself when he’d fought to save their lives a few months ago. He’d been nearly dead—covered in his own blood from multiple gunshot wounds—and still managed to save them both.

  But damned if he couldn’t also charm his way out of most situations. He was just so likable. Parnam wasn’t immune to Tanner’s charm either.

  “Thank you for saying that,” the other man said. “I hear plenty if something goes wrong, but nobody ever thinks to say thank you for things going right.”

  Tanner made a sound of agreement and cleared his throat. “Well, we are thankful that you’ve done your job so well.” Bree kept her eyes glued on the computer so she wouldn’t snicker. “Would you mind showing me the way to the marshals’ offices? I want to make sure that they understand the severity of the situation too, like you do.”

  “Yeah, absolutely.” She wasn’t surprised to hear that Parnam wanted to show Tanner, his new bestie, anything he needed to see. “Will you be okay in here by yourself, Ms. Daniels?”

  Bree looked over her shoulder at them and smiled. “Absolutely. It will probably be much quicker for me without you two.”

  The two were chatting like pals as they walked down the hallway.

  She didn’t waste any time accessing the system and familiarizing herself with its particulars in just a few minutes. She immediately brought up the file on Jared’s ankle monitor and pored over the data. It was identical to the report Tanner had shown her this morning, the same one that had been sent over by Parnam yesterday.

  Of course, that didn’t mean the anklet system hadn’t been tampered with, just that Parnam probably wasn’t in on it.

  Closing down the tracking system, she opened a source-code editor and quickly coded a program she’d already developed in her mind, bootstrapping it so it could run immediately. The program was simple but powerful. It would determine whether any outside shells were attempting to hide the real data concerning Jared.

  She was almost disappointed when it came back with nothing.

  Closing that, she wrote another quick program—the coding coming easier to her than conversation would to most normal people—to look for GPS manipulation. That was pretty high-level, and she’d be impressed if Jared had somebody savvy enough to know how to reconfigure data based on that.

  It was how she would do it.

  But after a few more minutes it became clear no one had hacked Jared’s monitoring system through that method either.

  She tried the half dozen other ways she could think of to infiltrate the monitoring system but was either shut down by the system itself or found no evidence that the system had been tampered with in any way.

  Finally, she just sat back and stared at the screen in front of her, having to come to grips with what the data was telling her. Jared was clean.

  She closed her source code and compiling windows and pulled up Jared’s file again, staring at his picture. There was no doubt he was a handsome guy. Midthirties, blondish-brown hair, piercing blue eyes. A charming smirk, even in his mug shot.

  “How did you do it, you bastard?”

  His picture didn’t respond.

  She reopened her windows and wrote another program quickly to see if Jared might have just delayed the transmission of data in some way. That would’ve been pretty clever also. By the time the police realized they’d been fooled, he could’ve done all sorts of damage to Marilyn and the kids.

  But that came back negative also.

  Bree sat back, feeling something she didn’t often at a computer: stumped.

  Was it possible Jared didn’t have anything to do with the fire at all? That perhaps he really had stayed within the two-mile radius he was allowed to travel in since his release? Because Bree was one of the top computer geniuses on the planet, and if he was fooling the system, then she couldn’t figure out how it was being done.

  The office door crashing open had her jumping in her seat. She immediately tapped the required keys to hide what she’d been doing, expecting to find Tanner returning with Parnam.

  But instead it was Jared Ellis himself.

  Chapter Seven

  Jared was bigger than Bree would’ve thought. She imagined Marilyn, who was probably a good three inches shorter than Bree’s own five foot five, struggling against him. It was hard to visualize a situation in which Marilyn would come out the victor.

  A man stepped from behind Jared, much shorter, but still stocky. “This is pretty much harassment,” the shorter man said in a booming voice. “My client has been out on bail for four days and we’re already being called in here like he’s done something wrong? Do not doubt I’m going to make sure the judge hears about this.”

  “I thought you came in earlier?” Br
ee said without thinking. Wasn’t that what Parnam had said?

  “Believe it or not, my client does not jump at the whims of this office. If the judge tells us to come in at a certain time, we will certainly comply, but this office having technical difficulties is not Mr. Ellis’s problem. You’re lucky he’s here at all.”

  They didn’t know who she was, of course. They thought she was a computer tech assigned to this office.

  This was a gift horse. She was going to ride that sucker, not look it in the mouth.

  “Of course, Mr. Stobbart.” Bree forced her most subdued tone. Wait—would the tech have known his name? Too late now. “We appreciate you and Mr. Ellis coming in so we can take a look at the hardware.”

  Stobbart looked slightly appeased, at least enough to stop yelling. “Well, I certainly wasn’t going to allow my client here without representation,” he huffed. “It’s not my first day being a lawyer.”

  He and Jared both chuckled.

  “If you don’t mind stepping over here, I’ll evaluate the hardware.” She studied Jared’s face. Stobbart may be a loud bully, but it was the look in Jared’s eye that had her recoiling.

  Jared Ellis was evil.

  He hadn’t said a word yet, and he didn’t say a word now; he just walked over and placed his leg on the chair next to Bree’s, exposing his ankle under his khaki pants. She wasn’t surprised to find him wearing loafers.

  If wearing loafers in Colorado didn’t tell you everything you needed to know about a man, she didn’t know what would.

  “Have you attempted to remove the device or modify it in any way?” she asked. “Maybe it got uncomfortable so you did something to it?”

  “Like what?” His voice was deep and low and had almost a hiss-like quality to it.

  She yanked her gaze from his face and studied the ankle monitor. There were no scratches, no markings whatsoever to indicate it had been tampered with.