Terrorbyte

by Cat Connor

  I pulled on my jacket. Praskovya helped. Pushing my injured arm into my sleeve wasn’t easy. Mac arrived at the door and spotted Noel.

  “This is Noel Gerrard NCIS,” I said. “Noel this is SA Mac Connelly.”

  “Good to meet you, Mac. We spoke on the phone?” They shook hands. Mac turned to me. “Where we going?”

  “Fort Belvoir,” I replied. “Find anything?”

  “I found crap-loads. GPS tracking devices … there are keyloggers and spyware on the computers belonging to Delta and on your PC at home.”

  I sighed. “I hate having technology used against me.”

  “Then you’ll hate this …”

  I braced myself mentally. We were all walking down the hallway to a door that led to a small parking lot. “Tell me the worst.”

  “The cars are being swept for bugs. I have teams going through the garages. So far only the cars assigned to Delta have devices, but they did those first.”

  “Then we need to search our cars here before we leave. They may know where we are.”

  “They probably know where we live.” Mac said.

  Lee strode ahead. “Wait. I’ll get Caps to lend a hand.”

  We all stopped walking. Lee pushed through a set of double doors. Through the glass we saw him beckon to someone. Caps came into view. They both gave us a backward glance, then vanished.

  Ten minutes later Lee and Caps came back. Caps stood by the door.

  “Clear, now,” Lee called.

  As we joined him by the main entrance I asked, “What’d you do with the devices?”

  He grinned. “Caps here came up with an idea.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to know; the devices were evidence. “Do I need to know this?”

  “Probably not,” Lee replied.

  A dog ran past. Caps hooted wildly. The dog scampered off down an alleyway. Lee and Caps watched him go, beaming at each other. The high five was completely unnecessary.

  “I’m glad I don’t know anything about that,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  Caps slapped on the car roof as we pulled out after Gerrard. He stood, like a sentry, watching us leave. A hundred yards down the road, Tats did the same. And a hundred yards later another young man stood. This carried on until we were out of their territory. Either they wanted to make sure we had gone, or they wanted to make sure we had gone safely. I wanted to believe it was safely.

  We drove in silence. I didn’t know what the hell we thought we were doing trying to find the kids, just us and Noel’s small team, but we didn’t want to call the cavalry, so to speak. I had nothing that suggested the kids were at the fort.

  Far be it from me to be the girl who cries wolf.

  Gerrard pulled over just before the Fairfax Parkway and Route 1 intersection. An SUV bearing the NCIS insignia was already waiting. We pulled up behind them. Gerrard ran back and tapped on my window.

  “I’ll lead … then you … then my team.”

  “Okay.”

  We checked through Tulley Gate with no problem. At the beginning of Deakyne Road we swapped places because we knew exactly where we were going and they didn’t. We led, Gerrard followed; his team came up last. Mac was driving and slowed to a crawl as we moved down the road, ever watchful.

  “No one around,” Mac said, flipping the window wipers to clear drizzle from the windscreen. “You’d think there’d be someone.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” I replied. “He likes cameras; the whole place is probably rigged and streaming live to someone’s computer. Pull over.”

  He did as I asked. The sound of rounds being chambered surrounded me like a deadly chorus. Everyone pulled out their phones and switched them to silent.

  Mac opened his door, with a tentative look at me. “You coming?”

  “Is your brother a moron?’” I replied with a grin.

  From under the passenger seat I pulled out a bulletproof vest. I climbed out of the car and pulled off my jacket. “Suit up.”

  Lee and Praskovya shut their doors with little more than a click. Mac grimaced but opened the truck and pulled out three more vests. He handed them out. I needed help to fasten the Velcro on my Kevlar vest and to put my jacket back over it. Gerrard and three men arrived, already wearing Kevlar under NCIS jackets. We headed for the building: the one in front of the bunker we’d been trapped in the day before.

  We ran in single file, separating as we neared, and circled the building. All the windows were boarded up. I counted two doors. One front and one back. It didn’t mean there weren’t tunnels underneath. I was at the back with Praskovya and one of the NCIS guys, scanning the exterior for cameras or anything that indicted the cladding had been interfered with recently. It seemed sensible to let Mac, Lee and the others take the front.

  I was going to have to shoot left-handed if needed. Been there, done that, and it ain’t pretty.

  Lee called my cell.

  “No sign of any cameras out front.”

  “Okay. Let’s get in there then.”

  I wondered for a moment why there were no cameras. He liked to watch everything else. Why not watch the building? The thought occurred to me that we could be wrong about it being the stash point for the missing kids.

  I heard Lee call out at the front door, announcing us as FBI/NCIS. It pays to announce. Listening intently, I discerned no reply.

  The next sound was crunching wood. I guessed Lee and Mac had opened the door.

  Mac hollered, “Ellie, come here!”

  I ran around the corner with Praskovya close on my heels. Puffing from the exertion and wincing from the reminders emanating from the sutures in my back, I found Lee outside. He was on his cell phone. He looked at me, winked and smiled. Filled with positive vibes, I left him to it and hurried to see Mac.

  He was smiling too. It didn’t take me long to see why. He dropped to his knees next to a mattress and grinned at me. Gerrard and his men were standing by.

  “You were right,” Gerrard said.

  There were sleeping kids. I hoped they were sleeping. I bent over and touched each face as I counted. Six. They were warm.

  “Sleeping?”

  “Drugged, I think, not waking,” Mac replied. “And we weren’t quiet coming in here.”

  Praskovya was smiling. I glimpsed the relief in his eyes. “You found them. You found them,” he said, his voice crumbling at the edges.

  “Six kids. We only knew about five. Are they okay?” I asked.

  Mac was checking pulse rates and trying to wake them. “Six … an extra kid. Wonder who she is.”

  The kids were huddled together under a thick comforter.

  “Lee’s calling for ambulances and backup. They wouldn’t leave these children for long, not that they could get out. But whatever is keeping them asleep will need topping up.”

  I looked around the room. It was one large, cold, concrete room. No windows. There was light and electricity. I carefully checked every inch of the room, looking for anything that could conceal a camera or microphone. A bucket in the corner with a towel over it; a roll of toilet tissue on the floor next to it. I lifted the towel and wished I hadn’t. A small sink. I turned on the taps and checked the pipe underneath. Tiny surveillance cameras can be hidden almost anywhere these days.

  Sirens whined in the distance coming ever closer. Lee and Praskovya took up positions on either side of the doorway. Partially hidden from outside, they were our defense should the traffickers return. Nerves yammering, we waited for medical help for the kids and our backup.

  My cell rang. I fumbled it from my pocket, heart pounding, and almost dropped it. Aidan’s voice met my ear as he said, “Ellie, I have a kid online asking for help; her mom hasn’t come home.”

  This felt very important. “Get her details. Is this the first one who’s asked for help?”

  “Yeah. I would’ve mentioned it earlier if any others had.”

  My brain raced. So far, we’d found all the dead women in their own homes; more specifically, in their kitchen
s.

  “Where’s the kid?”

  “At a friend’s house.”

  “Good. Get an address.” Adrenaline raced through my body. I knew we had to get to the child before they did. I hated being right but we’d caught a break; we had a kid who hadn’t disappeared yet and the five plus one missing kids. Now we just needed to keep this new child out of harm’s way.

  “Ball park on her location, Aidan?”

  “Georgetown.”

  I paced up and down the room. Willing the sirens to hurry. I wanted to get to the girl before she disappeared. Gravel crunched under tires.

  I leaned back against the wall in the shadows and whispered to Aidan, “We’re heading out as soon as we can. Get that address. I’ll call you back.”

  “Sure.”

  I hung up and pushed the phone into my pocket. “Lee?”

  Lee was moving back into the room, he said, “Three ambulances and I hope our backup, Chicky.”

  “Praskovya?” He didn’t answer right away. “Misha?”

  “I see paramedics.”

  Pfft. Dust rose from outside the door. Pffft. More dust. Pffft. Something lodged in the broken door. Praskovya jumped back. “Shots.”

  Lee dove back to the doorway. He peered around it. A bullet hit the door jamb. The kids were safe enough, unless our attackers were firing something that could penetrate concrete. It felt like massive déjà vu.

  Mac hooked my leg with his arm and pulled me closer to him and the children. I sat down on the mattress. “Stay over here, they won’t want to lose the kids.” He then scuttled away, gun in hand to take a position lower than either Lee or Praskovya. I listened to the firing. Tried not to jump at every hit the door and doorframe took. Wishing I could be of some use.

  “How did they know? I haven’t seen a camera,” I asked, as Lee fired a few rounds. Then looked at Gerrard.

  He shook his head. “Don’t even think it. As for my men, they didn’t know where we were going until we got here. No one has used a cell phone. And they’re my men.”

  I didn’t mean to think it, and once upon a time it would’ve been the farthest thing from my thoughts. Once upon a time when I believed in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy and the honor of the Marine Corps. And I wanted to again.

  “Maybe it’s checking time?” Mac replied. “See if any of them look like they’re about to wake up …”

  “That’s the last thing we need right now.” I looked at them all, one by one. A couple showed signs of waking, eyes moving inside closed eyelids. “Damn, it’s a good thing we arrived when we did, any later and we’d have walked into a hornet’s nest.”

  Mac looked over at the kids and me. “Any chance we can wrap this up before we have six hysterical tweenies?”

  Lee was on his phone again. “We do have backup coming, they’re two minutes away and running silent. Should be on the shooter any minute. Guess they didn’t think of that.”

  “Where are they anyway? Is it even ‘they’?”

  “From the shots fired I suspect one person with a rifle, probably behind the ambulances somewhere.”

  I nodded, more to myself than them; all eyes focused out the door. “Guess it doesn’t take more than one person to administer more whatever-it-is that keeps them asleep.”

  More gravel crunched under heavy, moving tires.

  Pffft. Pffft. Splinters of wood flew into the room.

  A male voice called out, followed almost immediately by a single gunshot. Running booted feet headed our way.

  Lee called out, “About time!”

  “Gunman neutralized,” replied a deep voice.

  Two men in FBI SWAT gear hustled through the door. The first man in asked, “Anyone hurt?”

  “No,” I replied. “Paramedics?”

  “Luckily unhurt, ma’am.”

  “Can we get them in here then, please?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I couldn’t see his face but his voice was comforting. Paramedics ran in, carrying their bags and looking shaken and more than a little stirred. I half expected to see a tall, suave, tuxedoed man emerge from an ambulance, dust himself off and offer me a martini. Bond, James Bond.

  SWAT surrounded the building, lending a much-needed feeling of security to the area. Half an hour later Caine walked in. I doubt I’ve ever been so pleased to see him.

  I held up my finger indicating I needed a minute and called Aidan. I kept him on the line and spoke to Caine.

  “We need to go, we have another kid. I think she’s about to be snatched. Can you stay and deal with this?”

  He nodded. Kids were slowly waking and crying.

  I waved my arm in the direction of the mattress. “We expected five and have six. Getting the identity of these kids confirmed is priority. I’m picking there’s another body we haven’t found yet. Number six’s mom.”

  Caine’s mouth twitched, his gruff voice crackled with amusement. “I can handle it, Ellie.” Caine took charge of the scene.

  There was a smile on my face when I turned to Gerrard. “Thank you for your help. Let me know if you find my Marine.”

  “Will do. Tell your father I’ll be by to visit soon.”

  “You knew who I was?”

  “Little Gabrielle Conway. I remember you when you were at college.”

  I smiled. “Thanks for not saying that earlier.”

  Motioning to Mac, Praskovya and Lee to leave, I walked to the car and waited for Aidan to give me a current address. I heard music. I held the phone away from my ear and I still heard it, so it wasn’t the phone. It was in my head. I could hear the Rolling Stones singing ‘Lady Jane.’

  “Her mother is Jane,” I said, to no one in particular.

  Aidan replied, “How could you know that? I just asked the kid her mother’s name.”

  “I just do. Give me a location and an adult to talk to there.”

  Praskovya and Mac stood by the car door, they were waiting for me. Lee was already in the back.

  I held out my hand, Mac dropped his cell phone in it. While Aidan called out the number where the kid was, I punched it into Mac’s phone.

  We were in the car and heading back along Deakyne Road before the phone was answered by an out-of-breath woman. “Hello?”

  “This is Supervising Special Agent Ellie Conway with the FBI; do you have Carla Torres with you?

  “Yes, I do, she’s a friend of my daughter’s. Is there something wrong?”

  “I’m on my way to your address, ma’am, please keep Carla with you until I arrive. She is to stay in your care. Do you understand?”

  “What if her mother comes for her?”

  We hit Tulley Gate with our grill lights flashing and were waved right through.

  “Can I have your name?”

  “Sandra Boyd.”

  “Sandra, I doubt if Carla’s mother will come for her but, even if she does … I do not want you to release her to anyone but me.”

  “There’s something wrong, isn’t there?”

  I know I took her by surprise and everything, but come on! What did she want me to say? No? The FBI called her up and told her to detain a child, for fun?

  I took a moment to tell myself off. Stop it, Ellie! I wasn’t being fair. It was getting late and Mrs. Boyd sounded harried to begin with.

  “Agent Conway?”

  “Sorry, Mrs. Boyd, we’re on our way to you. And yes, there is something wrong. Just please do as I ask.”

  “How serious?”

  “Serious enough for the FBI to be involved, ma’am; it doesn’t get much more serious.”

  “What should we do?”

  “Lock all the doors and windows. Draw the curtains. Do not open the door for anyone but me. I will hand you identification when I arrive and a card with a phone number. Call the number and check that I am who I say I am.”

  The woman’s voice shook as she replied, “All right.”

  “Ma’am, I will have three male agents with me. Two American and one Russian.”

  �
��We’ll be waiting.”

  “We’re on our way.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Nobody’s Hero

  I leaned my head back onto the headrest. The movement of the car and sound of the engine lulled me into a waking trance-like state. Standing on the edge, I stared into the black beyond. One foot toyed with the notion of stepping into space. The other firmly planted on the ledge. Noises that became voices and cries floated up from the dark. I looked harder, trying to make out the origin. The ground under my foot shook, threatening to send me tumbling into the unknown. My balance was now precarious at best, treacherous at worst; I felt my foot slip forward. A thought entered my head, how bad could it be to fall? One foot already wavered over the abyss below. How bad would it be?

  Faces of the dead swirled into focus; one by one I saw their calm, peaceful faces. With no warning, piercing screams shattered the calm. Each pain-contorted face stayed for a few seconds, then vaporized in a ball of flame.

  As horrible as it was to witness, knowing that I hadn’t stopped it was worse.

  I needed more help than my team could provide. I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and from memory pressed in a number I hadn’t used in a long time. I could imagine the surprise on Caine’s and Owen’s faces should they learn who I’d called. Talk about jumping the chain of command.

  Within the second round of ringing tones a familiar voice said, “O’Hare.”

  “Director, this is Ellie Conway.”

  A pause ensued. I waited.

  Cait O’Hare spoke in a soothing tone, “I have a file on my desk, Ellie, sent over by EADC Owen regarding the case you are working now.” At least she’d heard about it. “What do you need?”

  “Cooperation from Homeland Security, Customs, Immigration,” I replied. “If it’s an alphabet company I want it on my side.”

  A Steven Seagal moment flashed The Patriot onto my internal screen. Not to be confused with Mel Gibson’s The Patriot which portrayed a very different time. Steven Seagal removed the images of Mel Gibson with a swift kick. No room for short men in my life, not even in the movies. There was no need to explain alphabet companies to O’Hare. I’d heard her refer to CIA, NSA, USSA, CBP and the rest as alphabet companies more than once. She was the ultimate Seagal fan.