Web of Lies

by Elizabeth Knox

  “Just tagging them? We aren’t going to get them ourselves?” she asked, carefully sipping from the second bottle of water.

  “Correct, we are not prepared for retrieval, and we need to keep ahead of the killer.”

  “Do we know anything about him?”

  “We do. His name is Thomas Clark, and he is a professional.”

  “Shit.” Muttering to herself, she shifted closer as the sun finished disappearing in the horizon. The chill came suddenly as there was nothing to stop the temperature drop.

  “You will be fine. I have plenty of guns, and we just need to go by the bodies before leaving this area.”

  “I understand, but it was gruesome.”

  “Duly noted, Ms. Black. Come, let’s get into the Jeep before the weather continues to chill and check on your vitals.” He gave an arm for her to take. She picked up her remaining supplies and touched the edge of his elbow with a smile. He nodded, escorting her to the back of the Jeep, helping her put her supplies and bags in before helping her up to sit on the back ledge of trunk space.

  Alex started to assess the current damage. She didn’t have any broken bones or apparent bleeding from within. She did have scrapes and bruises up and down her skin. Layla handed over the GoPro for him to return to the military, who was waiting for all the data she had gathered. “Do you think I will get it back?”

  “Not up to me. It is helpful, the data accrued, but we can keep it off now and turn off the tracking system. I don’t want our new friend to find out there is a way to track you.”

  “I don’t think the head units are well known.”

  “Agreed, but as a professional, he will find any way to track you. Phones, electronics, whatever is now game. The logo is distinctive. Even if he doesn’t know them a few minutes on Google, he will know who you work for, find out who you are and all the basics.” She nodded, swallowing the minor lump rolling up her throat.

  “Gotta love the internet age, everyone can be found.”

  “It does make finding someone easy unless they have taken steps to disappear,” he stated, finishing wrapping her swelling wrist and bandaging several of the oozing cuts. “No need to worry, I am a professional and will keep you safe. He is hunting you; we need him to be gone before you return to normal society.”

  “What are you going to like do, kill him or drag him off to jail?”

  “I have my orders. I will handle him.” She tensed under his hands. He stopped working on the last bandage to stare up at her strange eyes. “Nothing for you to worry about. Let’s get to the bodies to tag them and disappear.”

  She gave directions quickly and efficiently using the local landscape to get them around the mountain toward the scene of the crime.

  Chapter Three

  Thomas

  The girl was not doing anything he expected her to. Civilians were easy to hunt— they went to patterns, help, police, anyone to help once they witness a murder. She should have made a beeline to her car. He had reached it well after she would have gotten to it. Taking care to prepare the vehicle for her if she did return to it, she would no longer be an issue. Instead, the girl had taken to the desert, disappearing like a professional. He needed to know who he was dealing with to see if she was trained, who and what she knew, and what she was able to do.

  Heading to the nearest town, he had limited Wi-Fi signal, vehicles he could change for his older off-roader, and there was a small chance she would find her way there. It was the only close town within possible hiking distance. He would have to change some of his appearance given she had a modern photo of him. If she did manage to get it to authorities, they would discover who he was and others would arrive to take him out. Years of being careful, avoiding people and cameras only to be found by someone that should not have been there. A witness. A witness with a camera and speed. He had a touch of respect and surprise toward her and the cunningness she has been showing to keep away from him. Killing on Federal lands had the one benefit of few observers, especially when no one knew it was a favored hunting ground.

  The town barely had made the map. It only had a few places and houses with ordinary people barely around to notice him. The bar offered a few rooms as a motel since there was no other place. He paid the bartender for a room and a Wi-Fi password. He had tossed his supplies on the bed, bending the mattress and metal frame inward. It was a piece of crap, but it would work for his needs. He logged into his computer to start his search on the logo on her gear to figure out who she might be. He used the sad-looking shower that almost got to lukewarm to shave off his beard he had been sporting and trimmed his hair. He had to appear different before the authorities got wind of him.

  Once clean and changed into completely different clothing and hairstyling, he got back to the computer. The logo brought him to a technology company he somewhat knew and investigated his recent GPS tracker to see it was made by the company. He smashed the device, not wanting to even test if they could track everyone. He destroyed his current burner phone, pulling out the newest one. He continued to let his machine search for the girl and got some information, since she was on private government land and worked for a company with some of the best security on their network.

  Thomas sent a short email through the dark web to request a full search for the geologist from Titan Ki Technology. It was replied to by a few bidders. Accepting the best of the lot, he let them go on their way to search out the data he couldn’t find himself. The money transferred and the wait began.

  Going down to the bar, he ordered food and a beer to blend in with the locals. A few had come in as the sun set, bringing in the small nightlife. He began to eat the overdone burger and cold fries and drank the decent beer, watching the locals for any hint of the lost girl. He didn’t appreciate knowing nothing about the target. She was loose, wild, and running. She might not be military, but she kept out of sight like a ghost.

  He finished the weak meal as his new phone pinged, giving him information through secure sites. The rest of the funds transferred to the hacker and he began to look down the screen as the information about Layla Black, geology doctoral student, came across. Several minutes of reading the little that came through gave him a basic outline of her. The information about her climbing, with attached photographs, made sense given how quickly she had escaped him. She had an unusual gaze, unease in her straight stare in the photo sent to him. He had hunted unusual before, but he had to wonder if she was something more than she seemed. Everything followed the life of a semi-normal human— she taught in Las Vegas while she finished her thesis work on rocks, and she worked with Titan Ki Technology for several years as their resident geological expert. They sent her out to gather samples and to test sites, which made little sense to him, but not knowing the ins and outs of how large businesses worked gave him little concern. It just appeared to be a waste of money.

  Layla Black’s social media appeared small, going dark when she was out on digs, and showed pictures of climbing, rockhounding, too many images of odd-colored lumps of rocks for him to care about, but it appeared to be on all her sites. Not the typical person, but given what she had seen, collateral damage was part of the package and he had no problem taking care of this loose end.

  Finishing his reading, he left a modest tip, allowing the patrons to assume he was passing through, nothing to tell the local police once they got involved. The local cop didn’t seem to be rushing anywhere. He had been in the bar during Thomas’s searching. She hadn’t made it to town, so no locals involved unless she got to the government or military, adding a complication he would prefer to skip. He would have to search through his maps for all the places she could possibly hide. The skill of desert survival came with her line of work. The excitement continued to purr through his body, a challenge finally not a simple hunt, a chase. The previous two died quickly and easily, this brought his urges forefront.

  If she continued to be smart, she would find a way to reach the military, giving another to cull from the milita
ry brats. The small skip to his step brought a smile to his face, he packed up the rest of his gear and left the bar motel with some supplies in the room as his base. He went to find the newest truck to steal, traded the plates and VIN to leave town. Nevada, lots of space, not a lot of people, and enough places to hide. She had enough skills to hide in this desert, even if she was not following what he expected by calling the police. She might have contacted her work; they used contacts instead. All the different possibilities gave him a puzzle to see what he could figure out.

  Leaving the small speck of a town, the highway rolled into the darkness and wild starry night above. There was little to no city lights to distract him. The road surrounded by federal territory, meaning the government would have to be involved by now. He would need to retrace her possible steps; return to the beginning to find the trail she would have found to leave. He hadn’t been stationed in this neck of the woods, money would need to be sent to another hacker to get updated maps and information occurring in the bases close enough to help. No one would be able to get into the satellites promptly due to the tight control, and updated servers installed. He would need to go the old-fashioned way. He would adjust, calling for information on dig sites, trails that Ms. Black might have taken. It was an immense desert, and anyone could disappear into it, never to be found, which was his goal. Just one person ruined his day and brought a challenge.

  Chapter Four

  Layla

  Layla spoke the simple directions to her new soldier friend, back to the place it all started early that day. She thought it had been longer, but no, it had only happened this morning. It wouldn’t be far enough time to rehydrate and have a long look at her knight in not so shining armor. His height impressed her, she hadn’t met enough people taller than her to the point of looking up, putting him close to six and a half feet tall, brick-built nearly muscles on muscles. No question of his military, even if he introduced himself as FBI, his short military hair didn’t leave many questions of where his fashion came from. His pale skin features stated he hadn’t been spending quality time in the sun recently, but with his build, and ease of the area spoke his comfort in the desert, perhaps not recently. The few interior lights showed his dark blue eyes, he kept them on the road. Her interest surprised her given the rut she had been in, even now with her life in danger, she found a moment to appreciate her rescuer.

  The path ended at where the bodies had lain through the day, rotting and cooking, a mess that Layla was not looking forward to approaching and dealing with. Alex parked away from the mountain, giving range to see all the points around him and could reach the vehicle again quickly.

  “I will mark them, stay here, the Jeep will stay on and honk if you notice anything coming in our direction,” he stated, opening the door and flipping on the flashlight.

  “Is there something that might be coming along?” Ms. Black asked, looking for wildlife that might be searching for food.

  “Possibly. Just keep an eye out, Ms. Black.”

  “Layla, just call me Layla, I think we are beyond surnames.”

  He bothered with a hint of a smile before walking away from the Jeep toward the mountain. The sweep of the light flickered over rocks and several places where dirt gleamed until where the bodies should be, he paused over pieces of cloth and blood, the bodies were gone. Nothing remained, the light flashed around the area searching for clues.

  Layla rolled down the window to see if she could make out anything, the bodies where they had been gone, blank. “Did your military people already get here?”

  “No, they would have called,” he spoke, closer to the vehicle. He slowly jogged back to the Jeep to enter. The gunfire surprised her, but he seemed prepared, using his hand to pull her head back into the Jeep, slamming the Jeep into gear to back up. The lights flared up, lights blinding the place where the Jeep escaped from, an explosion of light rocked the Jeep. Alex bothered with a curse, yanked the steering wheel to turn away from the lights to return to the darkness. Several gunshots fired around them, coming all around, Layla hugged herself down into the passenger seat and legroom to avoid the minor battle starting around her. The Jeep bounced and ricocheted over the brutal landscape; another truck roared to life to follow them through the desert.

  “Tell me about the area, Layla; it doesn’t seem like there are many places we can go without hitting a damned mountain,” Alex spoke loudly over the rocks once the gunfire started.

  “Head southwest for about five miles, it will be rough, but it is going on a parallel to the mountain. I have no idea how to get rid of our new friend.” She pointed out where she was talking about, belting herself into the seat, holding the bar tightly.

  “It isn’t like we can lose him in traffic.”

  “Do you believe it is Thomas Clark?” The Jeep jerked, hitting a rock on the left side, part of the underbelly roaring against the bottom of the Jeep. “Shit.”

  “Yes, I do. The Jeep is armed well; it should be fine.” Alex stated, believing it to be accurate, bouncing over the landscape with the truck following closely behind. “Do you know how to use a gun?”

  “I assume playing Call of Duty won’t count?”

  “No, it doesn’t. Keep low; don’t give a chance for a shot and follow orders.” The statement brought no comfort, Layla kept her head down. Pulling out the geological map of the area, she started trying to find a way to escape. Between the jerking, bouncing, and little light, it took her time to see where they were.

  “Keep going, then turn to the west, there will be an ascent before a drop, the drop can be managed if we go careful, but it might be dangerous to Clark.” She noticed him nodding, keeping track of where they were heading.

  “Can we do without light?”

  “I guess, we already seem to be playing with fire, but this is not something I would suggest.”

  “Noted.” The lights flipped off, dropping them into the darkness with only the headlight behind them and the galaxy of stars above them.

  “This is a terrible idea.”

  “I know. Just be right.”

  “No pressure.” Her hold on the Jeep deepened, keeping the map she no longer could read. The Jeep turned toward the ascent, they started upward slowing enough to prepare for the drop with only hope that the other truck was not as ready for the decline.

  Chapter Five

  Alex

  This was utterly batshit crazy. Alex continued with a tight grip on the steering wheel. He could see the rocky path ahead of them ending toward the descent. The Jeep had better be up to what he had asked for or they were all going for an uncomfortable trip. The General was getting his debt paid in spades with this chase through the dangerous desert. The Jeep continued to pull against him, trying to keep them on a different path. As he fought the wheel, he made out the edge of the drop point.

  Hitting the gas, he felt the front tires greet air. The back tires matched before the rough landing forced them to hold on to the Jeep. They were still moving, meaning he hadn’t destroyed the bottom. Continuing the speed, he followed the minor directions Layla had given him. The dials spun, trying to figure out what was and wasn’t working on the vehicle. He heard the crunch behind them as the truck followed without knowing the edge gave out, and the headlights stopped following. He pushed the Jeep against the desert, giving Layla time to find where they were again to point them in a direction away from the truck. The other vehicle made some terrible noises as it was being forced to shift and attempt to pursue them. She screamed the instructions over the sounds their cars made. Turning, he could see the edges of headlights disappear; once the hunter got out, he could follow the tracks, but he was not going to be moving as quickly as them. Alex had to make time to separate them and find somewhere to hide Layla before tracking down Clark.

  The jeep hit the sand, forcing him to slow the speed, allowing Layla to turn on the light to give direction through the basin back onto a hiking trail. It would be another half hour before hitting a paved road, but they were
currently not being trailed. The Jeep continued to whine through the trails, once on the way he could see he had been losing fluids, and the Jeep was not going to last much longer.

  “Layla, we need a place to hide.”

  “Jeep sounds like it is dying,” she noted, scanning through her maps. “There are mining shafts close by that have been closed off for years. Not the safest place, but it is shelter.”

  He stopped the Jeep, it wheezed out terrible crunching noises before he pulled out the satellite phone to call in. They had to go on foot, off the grid while Clark was close enough to get to them. Layla started packing supplies into her bags and preparing to start hiking into the night, he grabbed supplies as the line connected.

  “McNamara.” The line breezed open between Alex and the base nearly too far away to be of use.

  “It’s me,” Alex spoke, pulling out the flashlight to attach to the top of his pistol. “We have run into a situation.”

  “Explain.” Alex gave the short of what had happened and what they were doing. The general didn’t reply while Alex finished packing supplies to leave the Jeep. Alex knew he needed to destroy anything left so Clark couldn’t use what remained. The Jeep was totaled and now wouldn’t be useful for anyone. “Carry on, we will have a group come to retrieve you two.”

  “At this time, Clark is aware she is not alone and will be on guard,” Alex bothered to explain.

  “That does not change the order. Deal with him. Now he knows where the bait is.” Alex paused, then cut the last of the line on the bottom of the Jeep. The idea of civilian bait made him uneasy, one of the many reasons he had gotten out of this profession.

  “Understood,” Alex said before disconnecting. There was no real need for politeness given the situation. He finished searching the Jeep, making sure it would not run anytime soon, before they began to hike away. Layla started to use the landscape to their advantage, using the rocks and hard places to leave no tracks as they began to make their way closer to a new section of mountains.