by Raven Scott
“You guys had a chance to review the updated mission report, including the threat assessment based on yesterday’s events,” he stated to the other three Fortis agents who now stood around the table. “I’d like to confirm our protection plan for the next two weeks.”
“We remain at this site until next Friday while Alex finishes off the motor and other components of her Cicada design,” Ned explained. “Then we will meet with the Magnus racing team in British Columbia so they can put the car together and complete the road test and final calibrations.
“The challenge is we now have confirmation that someone is still trying to get the hybrid. And they are running out of time. Once the product is launched publicly by Magnus at the race in less than three weeks, the window to steal the designs will be closed. Which is why we’ve brought on additional security support. We need to be prepared for anything, and the threat will only increase as we get closer to the race.”
“How confident are you that it’s Crow that’s after the design now?” Sam asked, standing with his legs spread wide and his arms crossed against his massive chest.
“From everything we’ve gathered about the cyber intrusion tactics used on North’s computer by Pratt in Chicago, then directly on the Magnus servers, I’m ninety-five percent certain Edgar Purdy is involved. And you’re all now up to speed on the various incidents of corporate hacking over the last seven years that have been attributed to the ghost organization called Crow. The code signatures are pretty damn close,” stated Lucas. “So either Edgar Purdy is Crow or he is closely affiliated.”
“This is also the first time where Purdy has blatantly used virus algorithms that we know he developed while with the Secret Service,” Ned added. “He’s shown his face and we have to assume it’s because of Lucas.”
“Yeah, well, from what we read in the mission files, it’s not surprising,” rumbled Sam. “He taught you everything you knew about developing solutions to secure the country against electronic crimes, and you turned around and ruined his plans to make millions from the Russians.”
“I think you’re overstating things a bit, Scotsman,” Lucas scoffed. “I had learned a few things on my own before joining the Service.”
Sam smirked. “All right, all right, don’t get your knickers in a twist.”
“The point is that Purdy has always been driven by his ego, and he now thinks he has something to prove,” continued Lucas. “Let’s take advantage of it.”
“You want to bait him to come after the Cicada,” stated Renee. “Do you think that will work? I mean, this is a guy that’s managed to stay completely off the grid while wanted by several government agencies. Seems pretty stupid to risk all that just to prove that he can steal something out from under your protection, Lucas.”
“You would think so,” Lucas agreed. “Yet here we are. If our friend Robert Malone was hired by him, Purdy’s spending a lot of energy to get the Cicada long after his contract has been cancelled by Hernandez. And he wants me to know it.”
“Whatever his motives are, it’s stronger than staying off the grid,” Ned summarized.
“Exactly,” Lucas agreed. “So let’s see if we can use it to draw him out.”
Ned pulled up a map of British Columbia.
“The Sea-to-Sky race is an open competition that runs along a fifteen-mile stretch up Highway Ninety-nine from Daisy Lake to the ski town of Whistler. Last week, Marco Passante confirmed accommodations in Whistler, with plans to arrive with the racing team and meet us one week before the race to conduct a final road test with the new hybrid,” Lucas outlined. “He’s also booked time at a racing track about thirty minutes north of Whistler, in a town called Pemberton, to try out the Cicada.”
“Won’t that make us the perfect target?”
“It would, which is why it makes the perfect decoy,” replied Lucas.
“Since the Magnus racing team thinks Alex’s Cicada was destroyed, they’ve built another gas engine for the race, loaded in one of their other Mitsubishis,” Ned told them. “We’re going to suggest they continue with those plans, but only arrive in Whistler a day or two prior to the race like all the other teams.”
“So, what about Alex and the Cicada?” Sam asked.
“We’ll go with her and stay in Pemberton for the road test, using aliases,” explained Lucas. “Magnus has a few spare car frames. I’m sure Alex can recommend one for the Cicada that can be shipped there for her to use. And if we fly to British Columbia on a private charter out of Toronto, there will be no online record of the trip.”
The other three agents thought about the plan for a long moment, trying to uncover any weak spots.
“What about the road tests?” Renee asked. “Won’t Alex need other engineers to help?”
“That’s our only gap in the plan right now,” Ned admitted. “We’ll need one, maybe two engineers to help complete the car and do final tuning and calibrations.”
“I’m sure we can find someone good with the Fortis or DaCosta networks,” Sam suggested.
“Yeah, I’ve asked Evan to see who he can come up with,” Lucas agreed. “Alex has suggested Adam North.”
“North? The guy whose wife started this whole thing by trying to sell the Magnus battery tech to another buyer?” Sam asked incredulously.
“Yeah, that was my reaction also,” added Lucas. “But if you think about it, it makes sense. He’s a well-respected physicist with a solid knowledge of auto design according to Alex, and he’s the expert on the battery. He also has a vested interest in making sure the Cicada has a successful launch, especially now that he’s provided an official statement confirming that he had shared the battery specs with his wife. Whether that’s true or not, it means that there are no criminal charges. The lawyers confirmed that the wording of the nondisclosure agreement does in fact extend the restrictions to his wife, so Magnus can sue them for damages. If North gives us a week of his time to complete the road tests, we can probably talk Passante into only suing them for out-of-pocket costs, like our fee.”
“Hmm . . . When you put it that way, it does have some merit,” mumbled Sam.
“Any other questions about the plan?” Lucas asked, but the others shook their heads. “Good. I’ll provide Alex and Passante with an update this morning and we’ll confirm all the logistics. In the meantime, we’ll double up on our security rotation, add a rotating night shift. This house is wired like Fort Knox, but I’m not taking anything for granted. Purdy had the same protocol training as Ned and I, and was in the Service for far longer. If he manages to figure out where we are, I want to make sure we have the manpower to stop him.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“What about our new friend, Robert Malone?” Ned asked.
Lucas leaned over and opened a tracking application on his laptop.
“He was pretty resourceful. Based on his cell phone records, he managed to get back to Syracuse late last night.”
“Has he reached out to Crow yet? Or anyone else of interest?” Sam asked.
“Nope. Looks like he may be taking my advice after all,” Lucas surmised.
“That’s encouraging,” Ned noted. “Purdy has to be using a fairly complicated algorithm to search the Internet for any component orders that could suggest we’re rebuilding the Cicada. He might not back off just because Malone failed to pinpoint our location, but he’ll have enough similar queries popping up every day to keep him busy for a while.”
“Maybe,” Renee conceded. “But based on the mission report, don’t we have to assume he already knows about our initial order of parts and components? That puts a pretty big bull’s-eye on our back.”
“It would if there were any accurate records of where it all was delivered,” said Lucas with a cocky smile. “That’s why I had all the fabrication tools and equipment delivered to the post office box in Syracuse, which Ned picked up. And, I made sure that the paper trail for the engine parts had a delivery address of an auto shop in Akron, Ohio. Only the tru
ck driver knows different, and we paid him pretty generously to forget this address.”
“Well, with any luck, we’ll make it to Vancouver without having to repel a siege,” added Sam, looking almost optimistic.
“Now, let’s work out the important stuff,” Lucas stated, looking seriously at the other three agents. “The housekeeper comes on Tuesday and Friday to clean and restock the fridge. Which of you is going to take over the cooking?”
They managed to figure out an acceptable schedule of the task, then moved on to implementing the new plan. For the next twelve days, Sam, Ned, and Renee focused on surveillance and reconnaissance within a five-mile radius of the property and small town. Memorial Day weekend brought a crowd of tourists to the lake, and plenty of noise and rowdiness with it. The Fortis team knew it was an ideal opportunity to create diversion for an attack, and they were prepared for anything. But the holiday came and went with only bursts of loud fireworks and a couple of drunk college kids who tried to steal the seaplane.
Midafternoon on Wednesday, two days before they were scheduled to travel to British Columbia, Alex sent him a text message asking him if he could stop by the shed when he had a moment. Lucas was in the middle of building an online identity for their alias racing team that would arrive in the small town of Pemberton to do the road test. But, he was ready for a break to stretch his legs, particularly since he and Alex were no longer able to take their daily walks. After the incident with the private investigator, it was too risky for her to be seen in the town.
As Lucas made his way through to the back of the house, Sam was coming in from his surveillance of the immediate vicinity. Ned was doing a similar scan of the broader area, while Renee was still asleep after her overnight security detail.
“Did you speak with DaCosta yet,” Sam asked.
“About the tech company in McLean? Yeah,” replied Lucas. “I told him I’ll need another week after the Magnus engine launch to wrap things up before I can take on a new client.”
“Doesn’t sound like they can wait that long,” Sam stated. “And they’ll need both you and Raymond to help them with their network security problem. I can finish off this mission in Toronto after the race.”
Lucas knew it was a great solution. The final objective for Magnus would be to install a sustainable and scalable security plan, particularly if the Cicada engine fulfilled its potential. And there was no one more capable than Sam to do that. But it also meant that Lucas would be heading back to Virginia in less than two weeks. It didn’t seem like enough time to figure things out with Alex.
“Sounds like a plan,” Lucas finally conceded, knowing it was the right decision for Fortis. “I’ll give Evan an update later today.”
“Good,” his good friend replied. “How’s Cotts making out with the engine? Are we still on schedule?”
“As far as I know, but she’s been pretty tightlipped over the last few days.”
Sam nodded while looking at Lucas intently.
“What about things between you two? Anything for us to be concerned about?” he finally asked.
Lucas scratched the back of his neck with a little discomfort. This was uncharted territory for him, since he usually had a clear line between his personal life and business, as did Sam. But he knew it was only a matter of time before they had this conversation in one form or another. Quite frankly, he was surprised it had taken so long. Though he and Sam shared the bedroom with two beds, Lucas hadn’t slept in there once since Sam and Renee had arrived.
“Everything is cool,” he answered. “She and I are—”
“Hey, don’t feel like you have to explain anything to me,” interrupted Sam, throwing up his hands. “I’m the last person to have an opinion about who you fall for. Shit happens, right?”
Lucas shook his head.
“I haven’t fallen for her,” he insisted. “We’re just—” He couldn’t find the right words to explain exactly what they were doing.
Sam gave him one of those hard stares that said they both knew Lucas was full of shit.
“Let me give you a little advice,” returned the Scotsman with a rich rumble in his accent. “Don’t kid yourself about what you want. By the time you get your head out of your ass, it might be too late.”
Lucas wanted to scoff at the comments, laugh it off as an overreaction, but the earnest seriousness in his friend’s eyes made him pause. For a moment, it looked like Sam was talking from experience. Painful experience. Yet for the seven years that they had been close friends, Lucas had never heard him talk about a woman who could have caused that kind of damage.
“I don’t know what it is, or what I want, to be honest,” Lucas finally admitted, digging his hands into his pants pockets.
“We’ll, don’t take too long to figure it out.”
Then Sam was gone, walking into the house and leaving Lucas with more to think about than he really wanted to. He walked purposefully across the lawn and opened the shed using the security code. The space was brightly lit by overhead lights and the large wall of windows facing the lake. It was also warm and a little muggy, though he could see that all the windows were open. Alex was standing near the back of the space wearing a tank top and yoga pants with her sneakers. Her skin glistened with moisture from the heat. She was standing in front of a large workbench, but looked up when the door closed behind him. Her eyes were bright with girlish excitement.
“You should have told me how hot it is in here. I would have gotten you a fan,” he said walking toward her.
“It’s fine,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand. “You’re just in time.”
“For what exactly?”
“It’s done,” Alex stated, turning back to the bench. “I’ve finished it.”
Lucas stopped beside her and looked down at the collection of machinery on the work surface.
“Here it is, the Magnus Cicada 2.0. I’ve just finished a fourth round of bench testing for everything; the gas engine, generator, charger for the batteries, the power converter, and the electric motor,” she explained, pointing to each component along the drivetrain.
“Wow, Alex! That’s fantastic,” he replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “You’re done ahead of schedule.”
“I’m actually behind schedule,” she countered, looking up at him with those sparkling brown eyes. “I had planned to be finished last weekend, just to be safe. But the defective wiring set me back a bit. I was a little panicked over the last few days, to be honest.”
“You have been buried in here since the new supplies arrived. Only stopping to eat and sleep.”
Alex turned to face him, pursing her lips mischievously and placing her hand over the hard slabs of his chest. Lucas couldn’t contain the shiver that tingled down the center of this stomach at the light touch.
“I’ve made time for other things, too,” she noted. “Very laborious, time-consuming things. Maybe you need a reminder?”
Her exuberance at finishing the project was great to see and very infectious. Lucas had been very careful to keep their intimacy confined to her bedroom at night like a clear line between business and personal. But now he found it very hard to resist her teasing, tempting smile and the feel of her hand on his body. It was so easy and natural to wrap his arms around her back and pull her into a deep, arousing kiss. She responded immediately, using her lips and tongue to skillfully pull him deeper into a thick cloud of arousal.
“Hmm, that does ring a bell,” he groaned while pulling her even tighter against his body.
Her abdomen rubbed deliciously against the hard throb of his erection.
“How about this?” she whispered before reaching down to stroke over his fullness with the palm of her hand.
His knees weakened. Shit, she is dangerous.
Lucas kissed her again with hot intensity, losing himself in the spontaneous moment, forgetting everything around them, including the dangerous threat lurking in the shadow. A threat hell-bent on destroying everything Alex had worked
so hard to build.
“Alex,” he muttered, pulling his mouth off hers in a moment of sanity. “We can’t do this. Not here.”
His words didn’t stop her lips from trailing over his chin and down his neck, or still her hands from an effective exploration of his rigid length through his clothes.
“Lex,” he repeated, part groan, part plea.
“Okay, okay,” she finally conceded reluctantly. “I was hoping we could celebrate, that’s all.”
He smiled at how cute her disappointment sounded.
“How about I have Ned pick up some pastries from the café and we’ll crack open a bottle of wine. There’s a few good options in the pantry,” he suggested, tilting her face up by her chin. “And we can have our own private celebration after hours.”
“I suppose that will do,” she accepted with a big, dramatic sigh.
CHAPTER 24
Pemberton, B.C., was located about twenty minutes north of Whistler. It was a quiet, quaint village at the base of Mount Currie that somehow managed to maintain the look and feel of the Old West. Alex, Lucas, Ned, Sam, and Renee arrived late Friday afternoon over one week later, after a quick flight back to Toronto on the seaplane, then a long haul on a private chartered flight right into the local airport. When they landed, there were two big, rented pickup trucks waiting for them in the parking lot, providing transportation to one of the rustic chalet-style hotels.
The Magnus racing car arrived just after noon on Saturday in a fully outfitted race team transport truck. It was a Subaru WRX STI, painted yellow and black. Alex met the delivery at a local auto shop in which Lucas had arranged the use of one of their service bays and equipment to assemble the car. Lucas, Sam, and Renee traveled with her for security while Ned stayed back at their hotel to monitor the area for potential threats. They had checked in under the aliases that Lucas has set up, but the Fortis team remained vigilant just in case.
Adam North arrived at the hotel on Sunday morning. Though they had communicated frequently through the design and build of the lithium-ion batteries, Alex hadn’t seen him for almost a year. It was an awkward reunion under the circumstances.