Missing

by L C Lang

  Because of his size, it took three flex cuffs attached together to get him secured. Then she stood him up and moved him to the side of the car, sitting him on the ground.

  Then she realized Fitzpatrick was gone.

  Looking past the car, she saw Fitzpatrick was just rounding the corner of the house. Maggie holstered her gun and took off running after him. As she rounded the side of the house, he was a hundred feet ahead of her. He glanced back and saw her chasing him. While he wasn’t a fast runner, he was trying. He had gone down the driveway and was now on the road leading to the airport. As she ran after him, she wondered where he thought he was going. He had no way out of here. Another stupid decision on his part.

  It didn’t take her long to catch up to him. Maggie grabbed the back of his suit coat and pulled him to a stop.

  “Going somewhere, Mr. Fitzpatrick?”

  He swung around, his fist just missing Maggie’s head.

  “That will get you nowhere,” she said, as she righted herself in front of him.

  “I am not going anywhere with you,” he yelled back at her.

  Well, this is going well, she thought. And, it has to end. She was not about to let him go, so there was only one thing to do. Grabbing Fitzpatrick’s arm, she quickly twisted him around, pinning his arm high on his back.

  “Want to make a bet on that?” She reached for a flex cuff on her service belt.

  Fitzpatrick twisted, pulled his arm away, and then took a swing at Maggie, clipping her on her shoulder and knocking her to the ground. Then he took off running again. Maggie got up, took a deep breath and took off running after him. She knew she knew she was going to have to do things differently, and get this ended.

  When she got close enough, she pushed him down, landing on top of him as he fell to the ground. She got off long enough to get a knee on his back, pinning him to the ground. She pulled his left arm back, slipped the flex cuff over his wrist. Then she pulled his right arm back and finished the cuffing.

  Maggie stood up, and then took a couple deep breaths to slow down her breathing. Guess I should have used my Taser, she thought as she looked at Fitzpatrick lying prone on the ground. Would have ended things a whole lot sooner. Then she reached down and yanked him up.

  “Guess you should have stayed at the car,” Maggie said, as she began pushing Fitzpatrick back toward the house.

  They walked up the driveway and started on the road that led to the back of the house. She saw that the light was still on in the room they had been in. But now there was another light. This one was in the center of the house and looked close to the front door. Had Jack gotten into the kitchen? Shaking her head, she walked Fitzpatrick around the house and then sat him down next to Walter.

  Suddenly, she heard a familiar sound. The sound of a gun chambering.

  “Back away, ma’am,” the booming voice said.

  Maggie looked at the SWAT team members who were now quickly surrounding her, guns trained on her. Semi-automatic guns. Full SWAT gear on. She backed away from Fitzpatrick, holding her arms up slightly. Fitzpatrick slowly stood up, his hands secured behind his back. He looked at the men, and then looked at her.

  “She broke into my house, and then shot at me. I want her arrested,” he demanded. “And get these off of me.”

  “This is James Fitzpatrick. He has conspired to cause flooding, power outages, and a nuclear plant to shut down,” Maggie replied in return.

  “Both of you, shut up,” the same man yelled. Maggie figured he was head of the group. One of the SWAT members took both guns from her.

  Suddenly, Maggie smelled something. She looked over at the house. Smoke was now beginning to filter out the back door. She sucked in her breath. Oh, my god. That is what she had seen from the front.

  She looked at Fitzpatrick. “Was the house hard wired?”

  Fitzpatrick’s eyes were wide as he looked at the smoke coming out of the back door.

  “Mr. Fitzpatrick,” Maggie yelled. “Was the house hard wired?”

  He nodded. “Yes. They said they needed a connection for the computer. With the hills they wouldn’t be able to get a signal.”

  Maggie narrowed her eyes at him. “That code you put in was to burn the house down. How could you be that stupid? Now you know what the action was.” She hadn’t realized she had just yelled at him.

  Then she remembered. Jack was still in there.

  “The building is on fire,” she said, beginning to move towards the door. “Call the fire department.”

  “Stay where you are,” the SWAT commander demanded.

  “No, there is a man still inside,” she yelled back at him.

  Maggie took off towards the door, shaking off the grip of one SWAT member who had grabbed at her. When she rushed inside, a wall of smoke hit her. She paused a moment while memories of the day care center came back to her. In her mind, she heard the screams of the children and the cries of the parents as they stood helplessly by as their children died.

  She shook her head. No, this time she was not going to stop. She took a deep breath, then got down on the floor and did a fast crawl through the kitchen and into the living room. The first fire she saw was near the front door. A second fire was in the empty dining area. The third was behind the loveseat just outside the room where Jack was. She had to hurry. Standing up, she ran for the room.

  “Jack?” she called out as she passed the flaming loveseat and got to the doorway. She heard nothing. The smoke was getting thicker and she couldn’t see anything. With the loveseat now totally in flames, there wouldn’t be much time before the fire spread to the walls.

  “JACK?” she yelled. Then she heard a moan.

  Maggie walked towards where she remembered the desk was. Finally, she found him. She reached down and pulled on his arm. “Jack, you need to stand up. We’ve got to get out of here.”

  “I can’t make it. My leg hurts too bad,” he said weakly. “You go.”

  “Oh come on, Jack. You have more strength than that. I’ll help you.” She put her left arm underneath his left arm and her right arm around him and pulled. He slowly stood up. She placed his left arm around her shoulder, and then put her right arm around his waist. “Okay, let’s go.”

  They slowly made their way to the doorway. Just then, Maggie thought of something. She propped Jack against the right side of the doorway, then went over to the wall and pulled the map off. All the pushpins clicked on the floor as they fell. She remembered where the six sites were and could easily show them, if they would listen to her. But, which SWAT team was it?

  She rolled up the map, tucked it down the back of her sweatshirt, and then went back to Jack. Putting her arm around him again, she angled him away from the burning loveseat and then made their way through the living room. The smoke was thick. Jack was beginning to cough and she was too. They had to hurry. The area in front of the front door was now completely ablaze, as was the area in the dining room. The fire was beginning to climb up the walls. A chill went down her spine as she thought about what would have happened to John Murphy and his crew if she had not gotten them out. They would have burned to death. Based on what she now knew, this wasn’t the plan at all. She couldn’t believe the hacker had done this, especially since he said he only liked to watch people squirm. Guess not this time.

  By the time they got to the kitchen, Jack was leaning heavily against her and limping badly. She was pulling him more than he was actually walking on his own. In the distance, she could hear the fire engines coming. For a volunteer fire department, they sure got here fast, she thought. A few moments later, they walked to the back door.

  “We are coming out,” she yelled before they stepped out. She didn’t want the SWAT members shooting at her.

  Once they got ten feet outside the door, two SWAT team members rushed over and got a hold of Jack, half-carrying him away from the house, then laid him down on the ground. They ripped his pants where she had shot him, then folded the pants over the wound and held it. Maggie stood b
y watching.

  The main SWAT officer walked towards Maggie, grabbed her arm and pulled her away. He walked her over to the car. Then he let her arm go and folded his arms in front of him.

  “You have got some explaining to do, ma’am.”

  She nodded. “I know, but I want to talk to Special Agent Palmer.”

  Just then, two black SUV’s made a wide curve around the burning house. Out of the first one, two men got out, almost before the vehicle stopped. Both men wore dress pants and white shirts, and had a windbreaker jacket she was sure had FBI on the back. And, they didn’t look happy. Or, maybe they were tired. Or, maybe that is how they normally look. Maggie wasn’t sure which one she hoped for. She needed to talk to someone, but wasn’t sure who the good guys were anymore.

  “Are you Maggie Connor?” one man asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, sir. And you are?”

  “I’m Special Agent Palmer and this is Special Agent McWilliams,” he said, looking at the man now standing next to him. They both showed their badges.

  Maggie looked at the two men, and breathed a sigh of relief. Palmer looked to be in his early thirties, dark haired and muscular. McWilliams was in his late twenties, had dark blonde short cut hair, and even more bulk. She took a deep breath. This was going to be a long night.

  “Why did you go in there?” Palmer yelled at her. “We were coming. And, now look at this.” He pointed towards the burning house.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “I called you three hours ago. How long does it take you get to a group organized and get down here?” she yelled back.

  “We weren’t exactly close.”

  “I thought you guys had aircraft that could have gotten you here faster than this.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “Sorry it doesn’t meet your approval, but we did have a bit of organizing to do. And, we had to find where the best place to meet here without half the town knowing we were here. Then we had to get everyone together. It isn’t quite like in the movies. It takes time.”

  The look on Palmer’s face had hardened more. Maggie decided he had to be tired, so she let the argument go.

  “Well, it is a good thing I did go in. Fitzpatrick isn’t going to tell you, but there is a conspiracy going on.”

  “There is not,” Fitzpatrick yelled. “She’s lying.” He was now sitting down again, near to where they were standing. Two SWAT members guarded them with guns pointed at them.

  Maggie ignored him. “And, I was worried about the crew. I hadn’t seen them since they came in late Friday evening. When it took so long for you to get here, I had to do something. It is a good thing I did. The hacker had Fitzpatrick put in a code, which he said would clear the computer of any of their involvement in about what is going to happen. Instead, he had it wired to burn the place down. So, if I hadn’t gone in there, they would all be dead by now.”

  Palmer took a deep breath and then nodded. He glanced over at a very unhappy Fitzpatrick. “That’s James Fitzpatrick?”

  Maggie nodded. “Yes. He got here just a few hours ago.”

  “So, what is Fitzpatrick not going to tell us?”

  His voice had lowered, but Maggie could tell he still wasn’t happy. Then she looked at her watch. What she was about to tell him wasn’t going to make him any happier. Then she looked at him.

  “That you have until two o’clock tomorrow morning to stop what has been set to take place. There were two people in here who hacked into four utility companies, a nuclear plant and a local hydroelectric plant. There will be a massive amount of power outages, the hydroelectric plant will shut down and the nuclear plant will go off-line. There is the possibility of massive flooding and power grid outages that will cover the eastern half of the country. And all this is going to begin at two o’clock.”

  Agent Palmer’s mouth dropped open. “That’s what they were doing in here?” He looked at Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick hung his head.

  Maggie nodded. “Yes. Look here.” She pulled the map out of her sweatshirt and unrolled it on top of the hood of the Lexus. Then she thought of something. She reached down and shut off the tape recorder she had clipped on her jeans.

  “What’s that?” Palmer asked.

  She pulled the tape recorder up, and then opened it. “I taped the conversations between the Fitzpatrick and the two hackers. Actually, only one man did most of the talking. I’m pretty sure he was the main hacker.”

  “You taped it?”

  “Yeah, I figured if I could get Fitzpatrick on tape, then he couldn’t argue he hadn’t said anything.”

  “How did you ever think of this?” Palmer narrowed his eyes at her, and then noticed the cord around her neck. He reached over and pulled up on the cord, then looked at her badge. “You’re a cop?”

  “Actually, I’m a detective. But, can we get back to this? You don’t exactly have much time and I need to explain it to you. The tape will explain a bit more. Now, if you look at this map, you will see the pinholes.” She pointed to each one. “These are the locations of what is going to be affected. This one in Illinois is the nuclear plant. This one is a hydro plant that is near here. The other areas are four separate electric utility companies. Each company looks to cover between two to four states each, which amounts to half the country.

  “Also, Fitzpatrick has a laptop computer in the car. On the main screen, there are three links. One gets you to a page of six screens. Each of the screens shows the remaining time before the codes they set will take place and shut the systems down. The hacker said the shell codes were set at multi-levels, so I hope you have some good computer techs who can fix this. One of the other links is to a page that supposedly has the codes, but somehow I doubt they are completely correct.”

  “How did you know about the codes?”

  “I heard them talking.”

  “Is it on the tape?”

  She nodded. She was glad he had quit yelling. “Yes. Everything they said before the four left is on there, plus the conversation after I confronted Fitzpatrick.”

  “Four?”

  “Yes. Another man and woman. They walked out of the room before the other couple did. I didn’t get a good look at them. The last two, a man and woman, were the last to leave the room. I think it was the last man who was doing the talking.”

  “What did the couple look like?”

  Maggie thought for a moment. She had barely gotten a look at them because she was too busy trying to stay hidden. But, she had gotten enough of a glance.

  “The man was tall, maybe five ten, or so. Long brown hair, pulled back in low ponytail. He had a geeky look. The woman was shorter, maybe five seven or eight, long blonde hair. She was pretty.”

  The two agents looked at each other. Then Palmer looked back at her.

  “Any identifying marks on the woman?”

  Maggie wondered what other information he was looking for. Then it dawned on her what he wanted. She nodded.

  “Yes. She had an earring in her eyebrow. Left one, I think.”

  Palmer blew out his breath. He looked over at McWilliams.

  “Michael Whitcomb.”

  McWilliams nodded. “And his hacker girlfriend.”

  “Yes. Radio the chopper to come in and pick up Fitzpatrick and his friend. Get a couple of the SWAT guys to go with them. Then call the office and get a couple of computer techs ready. They’ve got a big job ahead of them. They are going to have to notify the companies and work with them on getting this stopped.”

  McWilliams nodded, and then turned toward the SWAT members who were still guarding Fitzpatrick and Walter. He said a few words to them and they nodded. Then he headed towards the second SUV.

  Palmer looked at Maggie. “Okay, let’s get Fitzpatrick’s computer and you can show me what you found.”

  Maggie nodded. “Oh, the other guys name is Walter Jenkins. He works somewhere in FEMA too.”

  Palmer shook his head. “Great. One more person who is going to be out of a job.”

  Maggie nodded.
“Got that right.”

  They walked to the car. Palmer got into the backseat and grabbed the briefcase. He laid it on the trunk of the car and opened it. Inside he found the laptop. Taking it out, he handed it to Maggie. She opened it, put the internet card in the USB port and then turned the computer on. A few moments later, the main screen came up. On the screen were three icons.

  First, she clicked on the bottom icon. When the screen came up, she saw the code was still in there.

  “Okay, this is the file that he typed the command in and the house caught on fire. I was behind the loveseat next to the room they were in, but I didn’t see any wiring. Somebody probably embedded the wires. The other two locations were near the front door and the empty dining room. It was mostly dark, so I didn’t see anything there either. I didn’t see any phones, but Fitzpatrick said the house was hard-wired because the hackers had requested it. I doubt this fire was Fitzpatrick’s doing. Walter overheard the hacker saying he put a little ‘action’ in the codes. He gave Fitzpatrick a paper that had code on it. He told him that putting in the code would erase any evidence that they had been there. He lied. Instead, it caught the house on fire.”

  “We’ve identified the two hackers, but the other two are tentatively identified. One likes to set buildings on fire to hide a criminal act.”

  “Nice guy. Now you know who is responsible for this.”

  Maggie closed that screen, going to the most important one. The screen with the six screens came up. Palmer stared at the screen.

  “That’s all the time we’ve got until the codes they put in begin?”

  There was a panic in his voice. Maggie could understand how he felt. She wondered now if he was questioning himself for yelling at her for going in. If she hadn’t, they never would have known what was going on until it was too late.

  “Yes,” Maggie said. “Now, let me show you the codes. I don’t know if they are right, but hopefully your computer techs can figure it out.” She minimized the screen with the six clocks. She was sure they were going to want to watch them. She opened the file with the codes. The page opened and she stared at the screen. To her, it looked like mumbo jumbo. She was sure it meant something to a computer geek, but it meant nothing to her. Palmer looked as confused as she was.