Killer Colton Christmas

by Regan Black

  * * *

  Dario leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms above his head, trying to loosen his muscles. He and Felicity had been working steadily for the past couple of hours, and he was ready for a break.

  He glanced over at Felicity. If she was growing tired, she didn’t show it. Her back was ramrod straight as she concentrated on her laptop monitor, typing away with military precision.

  She’d surprised him when she’d asked if he wanted to share her office. He’d immediately taken her up on the offer, and it hadn’t taken long to drag his desk in from the supply room. He’d spent the first ten minutes or so distracted by her presence, sneaking covert glances and enjoying the subtle scent of her perfume that seemed to linger in the air. But fortunately, he’d soon lost himself in his work, and the sound of her breathing no longer sent his imagination running wild.

  “Want some coffee?” It was about time for a midmorning refuel to top off his caffeine stores.

  “Hmm?” she said absently.

  “Coffee,” he said, raising his voice a bit to break through her focus.

  She blinked at him, and he saw her awareness return as she shifted her attention back to him and her surroundings. “Oh. Yes. That would be nice.” She reached for her empty cup and stood, stretching a bit.

  The movement pulled the fabric of her shirt taut across her curves, and Dario swallowed hard at the unexpected reminder of the beauty of her body. It had been two days since their mind-blowing kiss, and his palm tingled as he recalled the weight of her breasts in his hand. In the aftermath of the break-in, he’d pushed his attraction to Felicity aside so they could deal with the immediate issues, like talking to the deputies and securing the office. But now his libido came roaring back to life, and he suddenly wasn’t interested in coffee anymore.

  “Dario?” Felicity’s voice broke into his thoughts, and from the look on her face, this wasn’t the first time she’d said his name.

  “Yeah?” He shook his head, trying to remember what they’d been talking about before the sight of her stretching had short-circuited his brain.

  “Coffee?”

  “Yes. Right. I could use a refill.”

  Felicity nodded and gestured for him to walk with her. “Have you found any more posts about the Cohort on your hacker forum?”

  “Campus Martius? Not really,” he said. “There have been veiled references, but nothing obvious and nothing that appears to be helpful to the case.”

  “Figures,” she muttered. She added coffee to his cup and then her own. “I hope the Realtor will let us access her computer so you can look for evidence of a hack.”

  “Did she give you any idea of when her boss would make a decision?”

  Felicity shrugged. “She wasn’t sure. I think if it were up to her, she’d agree immediately. But she has to clear things with her boss first, since they’d be giving us access to their system. I guess there are some privacy concerns, and in light of the recent troubles Colton, Incorporated, experienced, I think they’re trying to be more diligent about protecting their clients’ information.”

  “Can’t really blame them for that,” Dario said, taking a sip of his coffee.

  “I know. I understand their reasoning, but it’s a little hard to be patient when their system might hold the clue we need to find Livia Colton.”

  “Or it could be another dead end,” he said. He didn’t want to be overly negative, but he also didn’t want Felicity to get her hopes up. There were limits on what they could do, and even if he found evidence Livia was behind the hack of the Realtor’s system, there was no guarantee he’d be able to lead the authorities to her hiding place.

  Felicity was quiet for a moment, studying him over the rim of her coffee cup. “That sounds a little defeatist. What happened to the brash, confident guy I met a few days ago?”

  “I’m still confident,” he said, sounding a little defensive even to his own ears. “I just think we need to manage our expectations a little. So far, nothing about this case has been easy.” It was true, but there was more to it than that. It suddenly occurred to him that the reason he was trying to downplay his skills was because he didn’t want to disappoint Felicity.

  The realization made his stomach flip-flop. Normally, he didn’t worry about failure—most of the time, the thought didn’t even enter his mind while he was working. And on the odd occasion he ran up against a difficult problem that he couldn’t solve? No big deal. He simply found a work-around or informed the client what they had asked for was impossible. He didn’t lose any sleep over it or stress about letting anyone down. It was all a part of doing business, a risk that people understood before they hired him.

  But things were different with Felicity. She definitely wasn’t a normal client; in fact, he didn’t think of her like that at all. He’d volunteered to help Adeline, yes, but not because he needed the work or because he was especially interested in the Colton case. It had just seemed like a good way to pass the time. But when he’d learned Felicity was in charge of the investigation, that had been an added bonus. He’d wanted to get to know her. And as he’d learned more about her, his feelings toward her had gone from the shallow hormonal surge of lust to a deeper, more complicated pool of emotion that had him second-guessing everything he thought he knew about what he wanted in his life. It was enough to drive a man crazy.

  “That’s true. But I have a feeling our luck is about to change.”

  He snorted quietly. “You don’t strike me as the superstitious type.”

  Her cheeks flushed pink and she glanced down. “I’m not, really. But the guys I served with were. It kind of rubbed off on me.”

  “Oh yeah? How?” Dario found Felicity’s stories about her time in the Marine Corps fascinating. It was a topic she didn’t discuss all that often, so when she gave him an opening he jumped on it.

  She leaned against the counter of the break room, getting comfortable. “Well, you have to understand all branches of the military have their own little superstitions. It’s considered bad luck in the Navy to wash a coffee cup, for instance.”

  Dario glanced at his mug and winced. “Really?”

  Felicity nodded, smiling. “Really. I once heard of a sailor being written up for scrubbing a superior officer’s coffee cup clean during a fit of anger.”

  He laughed. “Please tell me you wash your mugs.”

  “Oh yeah. But I won’t eat the candy out of an MRE. And I won’t eat apricots, either.”

  “Wait—what?” Dario leaned forward, enchanted by this side of Felicity. “What have you got against candy and apricots?”

  “A lot of the Meals, Ready to Eat have Charms candy as a dessert,” she explained. “They’re these fruit-flavored hard candies. And everyone knows that if you eat them, it will rain. Big-time. The green ones are the worst.”

  “I see,” he said, nodding. “And the apricots?”

  She tilted her head to the side, considering his question. “I’m not really sure how that one got started,” she said. “I never bothered to ask. It was just part of the culture.”

  “And you still won’t eat them even though you’re no longer a marine?”

  She gave him an affronted look and drew herself up. “I beg your pardon. I may no longer be on active duty, but I’m still a marine.”

  Dario held up his hand, palm out. “My bad. I apologize.”

  She settled back against the counter with a nod and a sly smile. “That’s fine. You didn’t know.”

  “It really is an identity, isn’t it? Being a marine.”

  “Well,” she said thoughtfully. “Yes. It’s a brotherhood—that’s the best word I have for it, even though more and more women are joining the ranks.”

  “No wonder your high school teacher was so excited to see you at Emiliano’s party.”

  “We have a
common bond,” she confirmed. “Doesn’t matter if you never served together—when you find a fellow marine, you feel a connection to them.”

  Her words triggered a burst of irrational jealousy. He wanted to bond with Felicity and have her feel a connection to him. But did he even stand a chance?

  “We should probably get back to work,” he said abruptly. He straightened, wanting to retreat to the safety of the office where he could focus on work and not think about all the ways he and Felicia weren’t right for each other.

  If Felicia was surprised by his abrupt change of subject, she didn’t show it. “Good idea.” She pushed off the counter and together they walked down the hall. “I have a question for you,” she said. “Can you show me how you’d trace the methods the hackers used to gain access to the Realtor’s computer system? I’d like to learn more about forensic computing methods.”

  “No problem.” He appreciated her question, and he felt himself relax as he turned his thoughts to teaching her the process he used during these types of investigations. “It’s a lot easier than you’d think.” He sat and pulled his laptop closer and gestured for Felicia to do the same. She pulled her chair next to him and leaned forward, clearly eager to learn.

  “So I usually start by looking for any weak spots in their security software,” he said, typing as he spoke. “Take this, for instance.” He highlighted a line of code, but the computer didn’t respond. “That’s odd,” he muttered. He clicked again, but nothing happened.

  “Did it freeze up?” she asked.

  “Maybe,” he said, frowning. He reached for the keyboard, intending to reboot the machine. But before he could press the appropriate keys, the display on his screen changed.

  “What’s going on?” Felicity asked.

  “I—I don’t know.” He watched in confusion as the text appeared to melt down the screen. “Maybe the computer has been infected with some kind of virus.” He punched at the keyboard, but it was no use. He watched in horror as file after file opened and disintegrated in front of his eyes. All his most recent work on the Colton case, gone in seconds.

  Felicity shoved out of her chair and grabbed her laptop, dragging it over to face them. “Oh my God, mine is doing the same thing.” There was a note of fear in her voice, and Dario felt a swell of helplessness rise in his chest. She was looking to him to fix this, and there was nothing he could do.

  It was over in a matter of minutes. The last files dissolved from their screens, leaving them both in a state of shock.

  Dario exhaled. “Well, that was—”

  An image suddenly appeared on the screens. It started out small, but quickly grew in size to fill each monitor.

  “Is that—?” Felicity said.

  “Yeah,” Dario confirmed. “It is.”

  Livia Colton stared at them from their computer screens, a crooked crown on her head and a chilling smile on her face.

  Chapter 8

  Felicity stared at the picture of Livia Colton, revulsion and anger filling her as the image of the woman responsible for destroying her computer flashed tauntingly on the screen. Suddenly, Livia’s face disappeared behind a wall of red letters.

  Stop digging, or people will start dying.

  The message sent a shiver down Felicity’s spine and she reached out to slam her laptop shut. Dario cursed softly, then reached out to close his own computer.

  Felicity turned to look at him, her heart pounding. “What do we do now?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure.” He sounded like he was in a daze.

  That wasn’t the answer she was hoping to hear. Given his expertise in computers, Felicity had been counting on Dario to know how to fix this new problem.

  “Should we call the sheriff?”

  “Probably,” he said. He shook his head again as if breaking free of a trance. “I’ll call Emiliano as well—the FBI can probably do more to help us than the local sheriff’s department.” He pulled his phone free and called his brother, and Felicity dialed Knox Colton.

  It didn’t take long to explain the situation to Knox, and he promised to come over right away. Satisfied she’d done what she could, Felicity hung up and waited for Dario to finish his call.

  “Emiliano is going to meet us here,” he said. “He’s going to confiscate the laptops as evidence.”

  “Do you think there’s any way of recovering the files?” It was a long shot, but maybe they would get lucky.

  “Probably not,” he confirmed. “But I’m sure the FBI team will try. As long as the digital storage system is intact, we should be okay.”

  “How do you think she was able to hack into our system?”

  Dario frowned. “That’s a good question. Adeline has the latest and greatest in firewall and antivirus software. I’m surprised Livia was able to find an opening in the security.”

  Felicity eyed her laptop, wondering if she’d accidentally done something to compromise the system. “Maybe she used a website as a Trojan horse, to sneak past the defenses.”

  “That’s possible,” he mused. He eyed the laptops, as if he could unlock their secrets by sheer force of will. “I think I can discover how she did it if I can spend some time dissecting the computers.”

  Livia’s warning flashed in her mind again, and Felicity’s anxiety spiked. Livia Colton wasn’t known for making idle threats. If Dario pursued the investigation, he was risking his life.

  “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” she said. She knew Dario was itching to discover how Livia had managed to pull this off, but Felicity would rather he let the FBI take over. The agents were trained to defend themselves if necessary, and they could call for backup if Livia tried to threaten them. Dario didn’t have that luxury.

  He glanced at her, surprise evident on his face. “What do you mean? We can’t back off now. We’re getting close.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Why else would she target our computers?”

  His words made sense, but they did little to loosen the knot of worry in her stomach. “I don’t like this.”

  “I don’t, either,” he said. “But I’ve never been forced off a job before, and I’m not going to start now.”

  “You’ve also never gone up against Livia Colton,” Felicity pointed out.

  Dario studied her thoughtfully for a moment, as if reassessing his impression of her. “Are you really that scared of Livia?”

  Felicity shrugged. How could she explain her emotions? People always thought that because she was a marine and had been in combat, she was fearless. But the opposite was true. War had taught her that life was precious and could be gone in the blink of an eye. She’d seen too many people cut down in their prime, all because they’d made a careless mistake. She’d learned to be cautious and to avoid taking unnecessary risks in both her professional and personal life.

  “I’m not afraid of her,” she said slowly. “I knew when I took this job I might face dangerous people and situations. That doesn’t bother me. What does frighten me is the thought of Livia targeting innocent people as a way to get to me.” She stood and paced, needing to burn off energy. “My family didn’t sign up for this. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to them.”

  Dario stood and reached for her, but she evaded his touch. “Hey,” he said calmly. She let him catch her as she walked past again. “Hey,” he said again, his voice gentle. “That’s not going to happen. Livia isn’t going to hurt them.”

  “How can you be so sure?” She wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t ignore the voice of doubt in her mind.

  “Well, for starters, they’re out of town. I doubt even Livia has the reach to get to them while they’re on their cruise.”

  “That’s true,” she admitted. “But she could always set some kind of booby trap in their home.”
She’d seen the results of such sabotage before; it was a common tactic insurgents had used in Afghanistan, with deadly results.

  “I’m sure we can talk Sheriff Colton into stepping up patrols in your parents’ neighborhood.”

  “Maybe.” Then a terrible thought occurred to her, and Felicity froze as her blood ran cold.

  Dario felt her stiffen in his arms. “What’s wrong?” He drew back to look at her, his eyebrows drawn together in concern.

  Felicity pulled his head down until his ear was close to her mouth. “What if she hacked the microphones on the computers? Do you think she’s listening to us now?”

  Dario leaned back and his eyes went wide as he considered the possibility. Maybe, he mouthed.

  Felicity’s stomach sank. If her parents weren’t on Livia’s list of targets before, they certainly were now. Had her careless talk put them in danger?

  Dario released her and walked over to the laptops. He opened them both up and Felicity tensed, expecting to see the image of Livia and her hateful message again. But the screens were blessedly blank.

  Dario pressed some keys, but the machines didn’t respond. He held one of the laptops up to his ear, listening intently. Then he lowered it.

  “They’re not on,” he said. “She may have been listening in before her stunt took effect, but she can’t hear us now.”

  Felicity exhaled in relief. She smiled weakly at Dario, but he was still studying the laptop in his hand. “That’s odd,” he muttered.

  “What?” Had he found something wrong with the exterior of the computer?

  “I think there’s something in the USB port,” he said absently. He set the laptop on the table and dug a Swiss Army knife from his pocket. He extracted a small set of tweezers and began to pry at the port, clearly trying to remove something. “Gotcha!” He held up a small, dark piece, his eyes bright with triumph.

  Felicity drew closer, trying to focus on the device. “What is that?”

  He passed it to her and she got a good look at the tiny chip he’d pulled from the USB port. “That,” he said excitedly, “is how Livia Colton hacked our computers.”