Blind Rage

by Michael W. Sherer

  “Yeah, okay. A pretty crappy day, but I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “Too afraid of losing your job?”

  He was silent for a moment, and Tess wondered why she’d let the remark out of her mouth.

  “No,” he said. “Screw the job. They waved guns at us, Tess. This is personal. No one should have to go through the kind of day you just did. I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone do it again.”

  Warmth spread through her body, yet, oddly, Tess shivered. His words sounded more confident than she felt. Whoever wanted the memory card in her pocket wouldn’t stop at just one attempt. They had to figure out what was on it and why her father had sent her in search of it. Suddenly, she felt Oliver’s fingers gently caress her cheek, and her head jerked involuntarily. She held her breath. A moment later, he traced the line of her jaw with his finger and then cupped the back of her neck with his hand and massaged the tense muscles there. She sighed, melting into the seat.

  No, this isn’t right. I just met Oliver. And what about Toby?

  A school of confused thoughts darted through her head, as if frightened by a predatory shark. She sat up suddenly and Oliver’s hand fell away.

  “Shouldn’t we call the police?” she said. “Alice and Yoshi could be hurt. They might need help.”

  Wind rush and the steady growl of the engine filled the car. Tess feared she’d angered him, but when he replied his voice was thoughtful.

  “What if they’re after you, too, Tess? You’re the one getting the messages.”

  “Isn’t that all the more reason to call the police?”

  “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “There’d be a lot of questions. And what if they didn’t believe us? Alice said they’d take care of it. She said to take you someplace safe.”

  “Where safer than a police station?”

  “I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  Tess fell silent again, trying to decide if Oliver’s concern was genuine.

  Why would he distrust the police?

  She didn’t have much choice but to go along. Alice seemed to think he was okay. Then again, Alice had also hired Rosa. And Tess and Alice hadn’t exactly been seeing eye-to-eye recently.

  As if I can see at all.

  She shrugged and settled back in her seat.

  The car slowed and danced to a syncopated rhythm of stop-and-go city traffic. Tess absorbed the sounds surrounding them—the low rumble of a diesel bus, hum of car engines, rush of tires on pavement, a honking horn, distant wail of a siren, and the muffled steady beat of someone’s car stereo woofer nearby—all muted by their expensive car’s soundproofing. Not long after, the car rolled to a stop and the engine shut off.

  “Where are we?” Tess said.

  “Not far from UW,” Oliver said. “It’s a short walk from here.”

  Oliver got out. A moment later, he opened her door and helped her out. He took her arm and walked her down the sidewalk and up some steps. His gentle tug pulled her to a stop, and she heard the sound of a key in a lock. The street sounds receded when the door shut behind them, replaced by hushed music coming through a wall and the clack-clack of her shoes on a hardwood floor. Oliver’s footsteps gave off a soft squeak from what must have been athletic shoes. She tried to picture what he looked like, but quickly gave up in frustration. Smells of fried food, stale pizza, and something that reminded her of sweaty socks wafted past her nose. Oliver pulled her up short again and unlocked another door, then led her inside an even quieter space.

  “Home sweet home. It’s not much, but it’s all I need.”

  He walked her around the small apartment, telling her what was where, letting her feel her way around. It wasn’t much more than a rectangular box with a bed in one corner, a couch and coffee table across from a small television in the middle, and a kitchen at the far end with a table and chairs that doubled as a dining and study area. A sliding glass door in the kitchen led to a deck outside. She sat down at the kitchen table.

  “Would you like something to drink?” Oliver said.

  “Water, thanks, if that’s okay.”

  A cupboard door squeaked and water ran in the sink. Oliver set a glass in front of her. She drank thirstily, and felt Oliver ease onto the chair beside her.

  “Hold still,” he said.

  Before she could object, he dabbed her face with a warm, wet cloth. His touch was so gentle she wondered if the blood was even coming off. The thought made her shiver. The lovely sensation of the cloth against her skin and the gesture behind it stopped too soon.

  “There,” he said. “Much better.”

  She heard the soft hum of a fan and buzz of a hard drive as he booted up a laptop.

  “Mind if I take a look at the memory card?” he said.

  She fished it out of her pocket and held it out. “What good is it without the camera?”

  Oliver took it from her fingers. “Universal card reader. I make a little money on the side putting together presentations for other students. It comes in handy.”

  “What, the money?”

  “Very funny.” He tapped the keys and clicked the mouse. “Nice photos, but nothing else here—No, wait. There’s a file . . . Damn.”

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t open it. I don’t know what program to use.”

  “Try them all.”

  For a moment, the sound of keystrokes and mouse clicks filled the room.

  “Nope. Nothing works. I think we need Matt again.”

  “Right now? Can’t we just sit for a minute? I . . . I need to think this through.”

  “Yeah, I suppose. You must be starved. No lunch. Just a cup of cocoa this afternoon. Can I fix you something?”

  “Like what?”

  “Ramen? No? A sandwich, maybe? Turkey and cheese?”

  “Sure. That’ll be fine.”

  Oliver got up, and Tess heard him rustling around in the kitchen.

  “I have to get rid of the car,” Oliver said as he worked.

  “Why? What do you mean?”

  “Look, even if Alice and Yoshi took out Rosa and the bad guys at the house, there was at least one other guy outside who saw us get away. And whoever set Rosa up with that job meant to keep an eye on things, waiting for exactly something like this to happen. I don’t know anything about you or your family, Tess. But whatever your dad wanted you to do, it’s serious. And if it has anything to do with government stuff—military stuff—they can easily track us.”

  “You mean we aren’t safe here?”

  “I think we’re okay for the time being. I’m new, so I don’t think Rosa even knows my last name, let alone where I live. But they can trace the plates on the car.”

  “So what now?” she said.

  Oliver set a plate in front of her. “Now you eat. I’ll go dump the car somewhere in your neighborhood and find a way back here. Don’t go anywhere, and don’t answer the door for anyone but me. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Tess heard the tremor in her voice.

  Oliver put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

  Before she could think of a reply, she heard the soft click of the door closing.

  CHAPTER 23

  Travis sensed something wrong the moment he turned into the drive and saw the open gate. The one he’d had installed. The one that James should have put in when he’d built the house. The gate closed automatically once a vehicle passed through, unless something obstructed the electronic eye. It had happened before. A wet leaf had fallen on the infrared transmitter once, covering it. Another time a crow had tried to wrest the shiny reflector on the opposite side off its mount, bending the angle enough to disrupt the beam.

  Travis stopped and got out of the SUV to check. He walked behind the gate pillar, where the LED beam was located. Bending down, he saw snipped wires dangling loose in the light from a streetlamp. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, and his pulse raced.

  Tess!

 
; Forcing himself to remain calm, he walked back to the SUV and climbed in. He leaned over, unlocked the glove compartment, and took out a pistol, the same HK USP Tactical .45 ACP semiautomatic he’d used in Afghanistan. He sat a moment before starting the engine, then decided to go straight in, act like nothing was amiss. He’d know soon enough if a frontal assault was a bad idea.

  He drove down the slope slowly, gun ready in his lap, eyes searching the darkness for signs of ambush. But all was quiet. Pulling up in front of the house, he stopped. When no hail of bullets met his arrival, he put the SUV in gear and swung around the circle to the garage. Yoshi’s pickup truck sat inside, as did the older sedan that Alice refused to give up. Even James and Sally’s wrecked hulk that used to be a Range Rover sat in the far bay. He needed to fix it or junk it, but every time he thought about it, he hadn’t the heart to get rid of it, nor the energy to repair it. Analogous, he knew, to the lives of the four people who still lived in the house.

  The BMW, though, was gone. Which didn’t mean anything by itself, but if Yoshi and Alice were in the house, he wondered why they hadn’t closed the gate.

  Unless . . .

  His heart hammered the bars of the cage that held it. He made a point of slowing his breathing as his hearing became more acute and his field of vision narrowed. Adrenaline pushed his body into battle mode, and he eased out of the car, the pistol out ahead of him in a two-handed grip. He made no sound as he glided across the ground like a wraith.

  At the door leading into the house, he crouched low and put one hand on the knob. It was unlocked. He turned it slowly, a fraction of an inch at a time, until it couldn’t turn any farther. Drawing in a deep breath, he burst through the door, staying low, and rolled to one side as soon as he was clear. He came up on one knee, swinging the gun in an arc as he quickly panned the room. Yoshi and Alice sat across from one another in the breakfast nook, Yoshi bent over Alice’s pale arm, which was stretched out on the table. Both the arm and the table were streaked red with blood. The pair looked up, startled, but didn’t move or speak. On the floor, a man’s legs stuck out from behind the island, black camo fatigues neatly tucked into combat boots.

  “Any more?” Travis said.

  Alice shook her head. Yoshi calmly went back to stitching up the laceration in Alice’s forearm. Alice winced.

  “Are you two all right?” Travis said, getting to his feet.

  “Fine,” Alice said. “Just a scratch.”

  “Tess . . . ?” Travis let the question hang.

  “I hired an assistant for her. Nice boy named Oliver. I told him to get her out of here and take her somewhere safe.”

  “Did he?”

  She shook her head. “No idea. We think they made it out okay.”

  “A boy? Are you sure?”

  “Young man, then. He’s smart, Travis. He’ll figure it out. Tess, too.”

  “How many were there?”

  “Three inside,” Alice said. “Yoshi thinks he saw another outside, but he came in to help us before all hell broke loose. There may have been others. Judging from the firepower, though, I think they figured four would be enough. Three in here, and a lookout just in case.”

  “How’d they get in?”

  Alice frowned. “Rosa. Hard to believe. She’s been with us—”

  “Since the accident,” Travis finished for her.

  “I’m sorry, Travis,” she said. “It never should have happened. This is my fault.”

  “Not your fault,” Yoshi said. “She fool us all. Important thing is you save Tess.”

  Travis looked around the kitchen. “Where’s Rosa now?”

  “She took off with the others. We fended them off long enough to give Tess and Oliver a good head start, but I dropped my focus, and Rosa cut me. Yoshi came to my aid, and they ran.”

  Travis walked over to the body on the floor and crouched next to it. He let out a low whistle when he saw the HK MP5K-PDW machine pistol.

  “This is military spec hardware, not a street weapon.” He rifled through the man’s pockets, but found no wallet or ID. “Any idea what they were after?”

  Alice nodded toward a camera on the table. “That. But the memory card’s gone.”

  Travis frowned. “I’ve never seen that before. Is that Tess’s?”

  Alice nodded. “I have no idea where she got it. I haven’t seen it in ages, not for a year at least.” She paused, brows knitting. “Oliver took her to school before dinner to ‘get a textbook.’ She must have left the camera at school last year some time.”

  “Why was it so important she needed it now all of a sudden?”

  Alice bit her lip and gazed into the darkness outside the window. Yoshi looked up from his work on her wound and stared at her.

  “What is it?” Travis said.

  “He need to know,” Yoshi told Alice. “Better to tell him now.”

  Alice sighed and turned to Travis. “Tess thinks she’s been getting e-mails from her father.”

  “James?” Travis felt his eyebrows climb up toward his scalp. “It’s not possible.”

  “I know that, but she came home early from school very upset. Said she’d gotten an e-mail from Mr. Barrett. While she was sitting here waiting for Rosa to fix her something to eat, she screamed and said she’d gotten another one.”

  “You saw it?”

  “No, I was in my office speaking with Oliver. But Oliver apparently did. He thought someone might be playing a prank on her. A while later, though, Oliver drove Tess and a school friend on some ‘errand.’”

  Travis knew what the errand had been. Cyrus Cooper had called him to tell him what Tess and her “escorts” had been up to. And if they’d traced the source of the e-mails to a computer at the office, that meant someone at the company had sent them.

  “I wonder how Rosa knew what they were up to,” Travis murmured.

  “She took them a snack in the library,” Alice said, “after they came back from their errand. She must have overheard or seen something.”

  Yoshi finished wrapping a bandage around Alice’s arm. She pulled the sleeve of her cardigan down over it and rose from the table as if nothing had happened.

  “I’m sorry about the mess, Travis,” she said, all business. “We’ll clean up as soon as we can. In the meantime, can I fix you something to eat? That must have been a long flight.”

  “Sit down, Alice,” he said gently. “Please. I owe you and Yoshi a huge debt for protecting Tess. And after all those years in the army, I think I can manage to fend for myself in the kitchen. You’re not to lift a finger until that arm heals. Now, would you like some tea?”

  Somewhat cowed, she lowered herself into the chair and said, “Yes, thank you.”

  Yoshi got up, collecting blood-soaked towels, and went to the sink.

  “I will make tea,” he said. “Maybe you go call garbage collector.” He glanced at the body on the floor and sniffed.

  “That’s a good idea, Yoshi. Excuse me a minute.”

  Travis set his gun on the counter and walked down the hall to a small study past the library. Even though he’d taken over the reins of James’s company, he couldn’t bring himself to use James’s office in the house. The study suited him better anyway. Distrusting his cell phone and the house landline, he unlocked a drawer in the small desk and pulled out an encrypted satellite phone. Glancing at his watch, he saw it was close to ten in the evening on the East Coast—late, but not too late. He dialed a number by heart.

  “There’s been some trouble,” he told the voice on the other end. “I don’t know what it means yet, but we we’ve got one down in need of disposal. I’d rather not involve the locals. At least not for a while, until we know what we’re dealing with. I know there has to be an official investigation, but any way we can keep this on the q.t. for now?”

  “The line’s clean, Travis. You can speak plainly. One down . . . Not one of ours, I take it. Anyone hurt?”

  “Alice, but not badly. Jack, Tess is missing. I presume she’s safe
—some kid who’s helping her with school got her out on Alice’s orders—but they’re both in the wind for the time being.”

  “Any idea what they’re after?”

  “James may have risen from the dead, general. Apparently, he’s been sending Tess e-mails. Best we can figure out is that she was directed to retrieve a memory card on a camera.”

  “Could it be him? No, I know he didn’t come back from the grave, Travis, but could he have set up some program to do this?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past him. I mean, look how far behind we are on the program because of the damn worm he used to infect the software for the prototype. Just when the tech geeks think they’ve got it licked, it morphs into something else.”

  “We can’t afford more delays,” Turnbull said. “Better figure this out quick, Travis.”

  “Until I talk to Tess, I’m not sure what I can do.”

  “Then find her.”

  “I’ll call in the team. You know if any of them are out of pocket?”

  “Not so far that they won’t come when you call.”

  “You’ll get someone on our garbage disposal problem?”

  “It’ll probably be a couple of hours, Trav, but I’m sure I can get a secure forensics team out of JBLM to take possession. Don’t touch anything. I’ll have them start an investigation but keep it off the books for now. That way, if anyone asks, you and the folks there will come out okay.”

  “Thanks, Jack.”

  Travis didn’t see any need to tell him he’d already gone through the dead guy’s pockets. After all, he hadn’t really disturbed the scene.

  “Good luck, son. Keep me posted.”

  CHAPTER 24

  I’d never seen death up close before, other than roadkill, which doesn’t count. Actually seeing someone die, violently, was different, unpleasant. For a brief moment I envied Tess, glad that what I’d seen wouldn’t haunt her dreams for months the way it would mine. But shock had set in, distancing me from the event like a thick layer of fuzzy cotton, numbing me to its horror, its finality. I concentrated instead on keeping us alive, trying to figure out the right tack to take. I didn’t like leaving Tess alone after what had happened, especially in a strange place, but I didn’t see a way around it. The Beemer had to go, much as I enjoyed driving it.