by Dale Mayer
The bank and the nearby restaurant where she was meeting Ice were both in the same small shopping mall. Her insurance company was in the mall too. She stopped there first and renewed her car insurance. While there, she made inquiries about life insurance. Armed with pamphlets, way more than she had any intention of reading, she left and headed to the bank. Business banking done first, then she took out some cash for herself. In this day of plastic, it seemed like nobody used cash anymore. But she still preferred it for some things.
In the back of her mind she was afraid her cards could be traced. If somebody was following her, they’d know where she lived by tracking her bank cards. She was tempted to just freeze them all. But instead, she took enough cash so she’d be fine for at least a week, then walked to the restaurant. Ice wasn’t there yet. Kai ordered coffee and sat by the window. She had paperwork she could do in the meantime.
When a shadow fell on the table, she looked up and smiled. Only her smile faltered. “Hi, Tyson. It’s good to see you.”
“Are you sure?” he asked in a low tone. “It doesn’t appear that way from the look on your face.”
She shook her head. “That’s not true,” she protested. “I was expecting Ice. When I saw a man I didn’t recognize initially,” she admitted, “I got a little worried.”
He slipped in the chair opposite her. “Worried? Is that because of the phone message that upset you yesterday?”
She stared at him, her mouth open. “What’s that about my text message?”
He waved a hand, dismissing her protests. “I saw your face when the message came in. It’s obvious whatever was in that text upset you.”
She closed up her paperwork, shoved the files into the bag she’d brought with her and sat back with her coffee. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Inside though she wondered, Should I tell him? She needed help from someone.
“You do know what I’m talking about, but, for the moment, you don’t trust me, and you figure big bad Kai can handle any trouble coming by herself.”
She snorted. “Everybody meets trouble they can’t handle at some point.”
“Have you got trouble you can’t handle?”
Just then somebody approached the table. She looked up to see Ice and Levi. She frowned. “The whole gang is here too?” she joked.
Ice sat down beside her, boxing her in against the wall, and Levi sat across from her beside Tyson.
Levi said, “Detective Mannford called yesterday, wanting verification you came to the compound. We checked the security cameras but didn’t pick up anybody following you.”
Silence followed for a moment while Kai regrouped. In a small voice she said, “Oh.” She stared out the window for a long moment, then turned back to him. “So he wasn’t there?”
Levi shook his head.
Ice said, “We checked all the feeds from an hour before you arrived through the day and the night. No strange vehicles. No strangers. All was well on that score.”
“Well, that’s something then,” Kai said with forced cheerfulness.
“Which leads us to believe there might be a tracker in your vehicle,” Tyson said. He reached across the table. “Give me your keys.”
“I checked but didn’t find anything. That would explain some things though.” She let out a breath, pulled out her keys and tossed them toward him. She watched as Levi stood up so Tyson could leave. When Levi sat down again, Kai glanced from him to Ice. “You must be wondering what this is about.”
“Detective Mannford explained a little bit,” Levi said. “Why don’t you fill us in?”
“Wish I could, but I know damn little,” she said. “I started receiving strange text messages.” She pulled out her phone, brought up the latest text and handed it to him. “Read for yourself. Yesterday after I left your place, I went to work for a couple hours. When I got home, I found three emails. Each one showed a picture of my place. The first one showed a picture of the front of my apartment building. The second was a picture of my actual door. The third was a picture of my vehicle parked at my complex.”
“So he’s saying, I know where you live. I know what you drive. I can come for you anytime.” Ice’s voice was cool but gentle.
Kai winced and nodded. “That was my take. I sent everything to the cops as I have done since it first started. I had a really bad night. Woke up this morning feeling shaky, went to the firing range, popped off a good few rounds,” she said with a bright smile. “Felt better. Earlier I sent Warren a text, saying I would be an hour late, but he never responded. When I got in, the place was empty. I contacted Tommy, my whiz kid, and asked where the party was because apparently I had missed it, and that’s where it gets a little more disturbing.”
Levi and Ice leaned a little closer.
She continued. “Tommy said he’d received a text from me, saying everyone could take the day off, that the company was doing well, and they all deserved it.” She sat back. “Of course he wasn’t impressed when he found the text hadn’t been from me.” She groaned. “I tried to call Warren because he hadn’t responded to the first text. I knew he would’ve had fits if he’d received a copy of the one about taking the day off, but I got no answer. I decided nothing needed to be done at the office, so I left to do some errands until lunch. I was doing paperwork when Tyson walked in.”
Levi settled back. “Well, this does make for an interesting scenario.”
Ice put it a little more succinctly. “Hell no. This is a shit storm.”
*
With Kai having coffee safely with Ice and Levi, Tyson went out to her car. He walked around the outside of it first, taking several photographs. He didn’t know if she had bothered checking for any outside damage or not. He opened up the driver’s side and looked inside. With all four doors open, he took his time using a bug detector to check for anything. He found nothing inside. He moved to the trunk, found it empty and carried on.
Underneath the vehicle he found what he was looking for. The vehicle had a LoJack tracker on it—an object common on rental vehicles for keeping track of renter’s movements. He took several images, then left it in place. With the image on his phone, he walked back into the restaurant, ordered himself a coffee and sat down beside Levi. He held his phone out to Kai and said, “You’re being tracked.”
He watched the color wash out of her face. She sat back and swallowed hard. But so typical of Kai, she didn’t panic or scream in outrage. She studied the image, gave a clipped nod and said, “I checked but didn’t see that.” She wrapped her arms around her chest. “I feel like I should have.”
“It was well hidden. And at least you thought to look,” Levi said. “This wasn’t your field in the military. Plus we often can’t see what’s happening right in front of us … Not until it’s too late.” His tone changed as he added, “Speaking of trackers, I need to see your phone.”
With that she brought it out and handed it to him. There was silence at the table as Levi quickly dismantled her phone and pointed to a small dot on the inside. This time there was shock and anger on her face.
He quickly dropped it on the table. “You need to get yourself a new phone.”
She stared down in frustration. “Why? The damage has been done.”
“Yes. So he knows where you’ve been, what you are doing and how you are doing it. What we want to make sure of is that he doesn’t know what you do from here on out.”
“Who knew you were coming here?” Tyson asked.
“Warren. He knew about the meeting … and wanted to come with me. He’s a bit of an asshole. But that doesn’t make him a criminal.”
Levi nodded. “Maybe not but it could make him a bigger asshole than you think.”
She groaned. “I really don’t like the idea of having to look at everybody in my circle of friends to see if one of them is a stalker.”
“Chances are he won’t be in your circle of good friends. A stalker is generally outside that intimate level but close enough to know who you are or whe
re you work.”
She nodded. “I understand. But that means he’s in the realm of acquaintances. And I run a business with a lot of networking. I meet a lot of people. I have a lot of business contacts on my phone.”
Levi turned the phone back on and copied the list to his phone. “I’ll send these to you as soon as you send me a brand-new phone number nobody knows.”
Tyson watched her face as she struggled to see just how much of her life would change now.
“Shit.” She stared out the window. “I guess that’s the first step.”
“Your network of contacts should be checked out. But with your VR system, your company is on the verge of making it big.”
She stared at Levi. “You realize how many men in the military would be in that group?”
“And how many of those contacts have IT experience?” Tyson asked. “How many of them had access to your cell phone?”
She swallowed. And shook her head. “Many have IT experience but access to my cell phone … not many at all.”
“It’s that ‘not many’ part the concerns us,” Levi said. “We need names and the last time you saw them. And what type of relationship you have with them.”
She took several deep breaths. “That’ll take a moment or two.”
Ice opened a bag at her side, pulled out a notepad and pen and shoved it toward her. “We’re not going anywhere.”
Kai gave her a grateful look. “Thank you but this isn’t your problem.”
“And that’ll just piss us off,” Tyson said, his voice low.
She shot him a hard gaze.
But he glared back. Like hell he would walk away when she was obviously in trouble. Not his style. He already knew it wasn’t Levi and Ice’s style. He also knew, as soon as he hit the compound, everybody would want an update. He turned to Levi. “Who’s the best for IT at home?” The term home slipped out naturally enough.
They didn’t think anything of it. But there was a tilt to the corner of Levi and Ice’s lips as they smiled at each other.
“Hard to say,” Ice said with a laugh. “Lots of them think they’re the best. And some are definitely really good at it. But currently Stone and Harrison are working some angles. What about Tommy? Any chance he’s your stalker?”
“My boobs aren’t big enough. My ass is too flat, and my legs aren’t long enough, and I don’t have a blow-up doll personality, so I’d have to say, no.”
Ice started to laugh. “Is he that bad?”
“He’s eighteen, arrogant and thinks that is the epitome of the perfect woman. I don’t fit the bill,” she said drily. She stared down at the notepad and couldn’t write one name.
Tyson nudged her. “Is there anybody in particular we should look at?”
Puzzled, she stared up at him. “I don’t know. For the last six months I’ve been celibate, buried in my job. I have turned down even a date for coffee. I didn’t notice anybody following me, looking at me strangely or being overly amorous.” She put her pen down. “I have no idea.”
Chapter 5
It was a daunting moment for Kai to stare down at the blank page and to realize, in the last six months, she had no idea who she’d come in contact with who could be doing this.
“It could be as nebulous as the bank teller or as close as a business connection,” Ice said.
“Or a past friend who may have contacted you,” Tyson added. “Or somebody from the military who liked you a little too much. He could be out now. Decided to come back and see if you’re interested.”
“It can also be somebody who you don’t know,” Ice said gently. “It could be somebody who just, in their mind, said you’re perfect. And he’ll make this happen one way or another.”
“From my research I learned stalkers can have a very strange mind-set,” Tyson said. “We have to assume he’s mentally unstable.”
Ice took a deep breath and nodded. “You know who you need to put down here, Kai. Start with everybody you work with. If you know the neighbor across the way in your apartment building. If you know the doorman. If you know your bank teller by name. Anybody like that.”
Kai reached for her phone and looked through her Contacts.
Levi said, “Don’t worry about those. Everybody on that list we’ll take a good look at.”
She raised her gaze and studied him. “Really?”
His voice was hard when he said, “Really.”
She shook her head and said, “Well, I don’t have anybody else to add to this then. The men here in my Contacts will all be business acquaintances or friends. If they aren’t listed here, I don’t have contact with them.”
“Then tell us who or what they are, what their relationship is to you.”
“That I can do.”
The waitress brought menus while they continued to work. Kai ordered the Caesar salad and didn’t hear the rest the conversation as she tried to make sense of the long list.
She stared at one name in particular. Rob Goring. “I have no idea who this is.” She glanced from one to the other. “I know a lot of people are on this list, but this one doesn’t ring a bell. Neither does Ben Jones or Thomas Getty.”
“Well, put them down with an asterisk beside their names. We’ll start with them,” Levi said.
She stared at him in surprise. “Why?”
“He had your phone long enough to put a tracker in it. It would take about ten seconds to put his name or a half-dozen names into the Contact list.”
“Sure, but why bother?”
“To make it look like you were friends already, from a cop’s point of view or a boyfriend’s too. Or to make it look like you had a lot of men in your Contacts list. And, before you ask why again, just think of all the ugly reasons he’d do that. Including making it look like you deserve whatever is coming to you. There is logic in his actions. Just because we don’t know what it is, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
Her stomach got a sickly sense; her skin crawled at the back of her neck. She stared down at her phone and said, “I don’t think I can eat lunch now.”
“It’s more important than ever.”
She gazed at Tyson in anger. “I don’t like where you’re going with that.”
“You’ve got training. You know how bad things can get.”
Her breath gusted out along with some hard memories from her training and the years she’d spent in the military. His words were damn true. But leaving that world behind had been a whole lot easier than she had thought. She’d expected to feel strange and uncomfortable, but she’d thrown off that life with joy. The old Kai didn’t fit the new Kai. Trying to crawl back into that skin didn’t work easily.
“You’re also never to be alone anymore.”
“I don’t trust anybody, other than you guys. But I can’t impose on you for help.”
“Stop,” Ice said. “This isn’t a job. You’re our friend.”
“It’s not that easy. You guys will put a ton of man-hours into this in the end. Who’ll reimburse you for all that?” she asked. Inside she was horrified—and her heart warmed—at their offer of help.
“I’d tell you how we take on pro bono cases all the time,” Levi said, “but I know that would piss you off. On the other hand, I want you pissed off. I want you angry. I want you to look at this guy and see him for what he is. He’s a creep, trying to ruin your life. Yet, you need to stay calm. You need to be in control. And you need to make sure that fear never, ever is in the front-row seat again.”
Getting her head wrapped around this wasn’t easy. Suddenly her neighbor’s face popped up. “Steve Rossi. He has the apartment across from me. Henry…” She thought about it for a moment longer. “Henry Springer?” She frowned. “He was a supply clerk. He was always just kind of”—she looked over at Ice and shrugged—“creepy.”
“Good. Keep going.”
Accepting what she needed to do, she managed to add another half-dozen names to the list. When the waitress returned with their food, she put down her pen. “I
t seems stupid because these men have nothing to do with me now.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Levi said, accepting the plate from the waitress. “But somebody does.”
“I can set up surveillance,” Tyson offered.
“What kind of surveillance?” Kai asked.
“It would be nice to see the action outside on your street.”
“We checked with Detective Mannford about the city cameras, but they are only on the main traffic intersections and not on the residential side streets. Not only that, but the front of your apartment building is hidden by large trees so any city-street cameras would have a hard time capturing a clear picture. It’s an older building with standard security, not one with a high-end camera system in the hallways, elevators or stairwells, so a dead end there too,” Tyson said.
She stared at him. “You’re ready to set up something now?”
He nodded.
She took a bite of her salad. “We could set up a camera inside my vehicle. That might show if somebody is near it and gets inside. The chances are they’d have a key already made.”
“When you take it home, park it and leave it there.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I still have to get to work and have a lot of things to do around town.”
He nodded. “We brought in two vehicles. One has been loaded with sensors to pick up other electronics. So you can drive that for the next week or so, and we’ll see if somebody tries to penetrate the vehicle or track you again.”
“This is hardly fair,” she protested. “You guys are taking on way too much.” She looked around but only saw hard faces. She shrugged. “Okay, but keep track of what you spend,” she said. “I’ll see what I can pay back over time.”
“We’d rather take it out of our pocketbook than out of your hide,” Ice said.
Kai realized just how good a friend this group had ended up being. She glanced at Tyson to see his hard dark eyes locked on hers. When he gave a clipped nod, she realized he included himself in that group. And she smiled this time, a warm welcoming smile and said, “Thank you.”