The Noah Reid Series: Books 1-3: The Noah Reid Action Thriller Series Boxset

by Wesley Robert Lowe

  “In that case, Abby and Chad, you stay here and tear the place apart. Olivia and I will head to the office.”

  “Dude, our car broke down. Remember?” chastised Chad.

  “I can help there,” said Abby. “Mercedes, BMW, Rolls, Mini-Cooper, Range Rover, Tesla, Ferrari...”

  “Range Rover,” affirmed Noah.

  “Wait a sec. What are we looking for?” asked Chad.

  “Well, a secret bank account would be nice. Or maybe a locker. How the hell do I know?” said Noah.

  “And how much are we looking for?”

  “That I can figure out. Enough to cripple a seventeen-billion-dollar project,” stated Olivia.

  Everyone gasped.

  Chapter 38

  At 4 a.m., even the eager beavers were few in number. The deserted parking lot gave Noah the pick of any spot he wanted for the Range Rover. On the way up to Pittman Saunders, Olivia and Noah had the elevator to themselves.

  “This is where we first met. Weird, huh?” said Noah.

  “Be thankful I’m a cheap date.”

  “Can you put that in writing?”

  “Do you ever stop joking?” Olivia grinned.

  “It’s a stress reliever. Try it sometime,” suggested Noah.

  “I like men to be serious.”

  “Then you should get along with your father just fine.” Noah gave her a triumphant look as they exited the elevator.

  “I’ll go check out the computers in our office, and you check your dad’s out. We’re looking for needles in cyberspace. The slightest hint that something seems different.”

  “I don’t need to be told over and over again. We’re not married.” Olivia said, eyes focused ahead as they walked.

  “I can fix that if you like.”

  ***

  Chad had taken over Tommy’s home office, bringing in every single computer he and Abby could find in the house. There were seven desktop computers, ten laptops and eight tablets sitting in front of him, not to mention three servers. Chad networked them together, then started flipping them on. “Why did your dad need so many computers?” he asked.

  “Actually, he didn’t really know how to use any of them very well. Every time he had a problem, he just bought a new one. He never bothered with any kind of technician.”

  “I wish I’d known him sooner. He could have outfitted my whole cafe with the ones he wasn’t using.” Chad sighed. “It could take hours to go through them all.”

  “We don’t have hours.” Abby slumped down on a sofa in the office.

  All of the computers, laptops and tablets suddenly began smoking. Any information that was on them was now irretrievable.

  “Now that’s not the work of a technological illiterate. Pretty damn impressive,” said Chad.

  “What happened?”

  “Could be anything, but my guess is that your dad must have had timing sensors put in so that if one or some or all of them weren’t turned on in a certain period or in a certain way, they would all self-destruct. You’re sure your dad never had anybody working with him on the computers?”

  “Well, I’ve been in New York for the last few years, but he never did before, and I doubt he did while I was away.”

  “In that case, I think your dad was a lot smarter than you gave him credit for.”

  Abby’s cell phone dinged with a new text message notification. The sender was Tommy. She quickly opened the message. Thanks for the breakfast. Can you make it for me again?

  She showed it to Chad. “Somebody’s idea of a cruel joke, impersonating my father.”

  Chad thought for a moment. “You know, I think this message came from your father. Unless I miss my guess, that message was programmed to be sent by one of the computers just before it went kaput.”

  “You know, he specifically asked me to make pancakes for him. He has never done that. He hates Western food. If he wants me to make them again...”

  Abby quickly dashed out of the office and headed to the kitchen. She pulled out a jar of flour she used to make breakfast with. She reached into the finely ground powder and pulled out a Ziploc® bag with a USB flash drive inside. She showed it to Chad.

  “I think I’ve found what we’re looking for.”

  ***

  With no one else at the office yet, it was easy for Olivia to walk directly into Garret’s office and turn on his computer. She began by searching the files, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary. She went through contracts, legal documents and all the stuff you’d expect to find in a computer. Digging down a few layers of folders, she found one oddly called Heaven.

  She opened it and began to tear up as she perused it. There were dozens of pictures of herself, her mother and her father at all stages of their lives, including Garret and Mary’s wedding, Olivia’s kindergarten graduation and the happy family on a private cruise around Aberdeen Harbor.

  She picked up her cell phone and punched in a number for the thirty-seventh time in the last hour and a half and, for the thirty-seventh time, there was exactly the same response—the call went directly to voicemail. “This is Garret Southam, senior partner for Asia Pacific at Pittman Saunders. Please leave me a message.”

  At the sound of the beep, Olivia whispered, “Daddy, where are you?”

  She looked at the computer’s photos again and saw a photo of herself with both her parents standing by an airport ticket counter. The picture showed a dashing, rugged Garret lifting the scrawny eleven-year-old Olivia over his head, with Olivia holding a sign reading, Don’t Drown, Mom, and Mary, a Heidi Klum lookalike wearing a Red Cross uniform.

  Noah entered. “I got nothing. How about you?” He saw the tears in her eyes and moved to the computer. Seeing the photo onscreen, he softened. “Is that your mom?”

  Olivia nodded. “That was the last time I saw her.”

  “She’s beautiful... just like you.”

  “She was even more beautiful inside than out...” However, there was a job to do, and Olivia snapped out of her reverie. “I couldn’t find anything. It all seemed like the same stuff Dad gave us before, except more stuff and more boring.”

  Noah grimaced. “We need to find out what they’re looking for but, if we do find it, they’ll apply the heaviest pressure possible to get it. Damned if we do and damned if we don’t.”

  Olivia’s cell rang, and she answered it. “What’s up, Abby?”

  The voice at the other end of the line replied, “It’s Chad, Olivia. Can you hop onto a computer? And keep this line open.”

  ***

  In another part of the city, the conversations between Olivia, Noah, Abby and Chad were being monitored (and watched) with exceptional interest inside a technology room equipped with an array of the latest and most powerful computers, monitors and servers. Marco, a computer super geek, sat behind a control desk that looked like it was right out of mission control at NASA. Chin and Stella sat in front of Marco in plush theater-style seats. All eyes in the room were fixed on an eight-foot high-definition screen in front of them and two smaller four-foot screens on either side of it. The large screen broadcast the live conversations between Noah, Olivia, Chad and Abby from Garret’s office. One smaller screen showed Chad and Abby inside Tommy’s home office. The other screen showed Garret’s computer monitor.

  They watched and listened in on the conversation.

  “Olivia, I’m not seeing what’s on your dad’s monitor. Can you check that everything is plugged in properly?” asked Chad.

  Olivia checked the screen, running her hand over the keyboard and the back of the monitor.

  Marco gritted his teeth. “Don’t do that,” he growled.

  “What’s wrong, Marco?” asked Chin.

  “Everything seems okay, Chad.”

  “No, I’m still not getting a feed. Try pulling each cable out and then sticking it back it in.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  Olivia checked cable one. “How’s that?”

  “Nope.”

  Olivia tr
ied another cable. “This one?”

  “Nope.”

  The smaller screen that mirrored Garret’s computer screen went black. Marco screamed, “Plug it back in!”

  “How about this last one?”

  “Nope. Don’t worry about it then. We’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Just follow my instructions.”

  Garret’s mirrored screen remained black. Marco was about to blow a gasket, but he too followed all of Chad’s instructions.

  “Sure.” Olivia sat at her father’s computer. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Go into a folder called Heaven.”

  “I did that already. There’s just a bunch of family pictures.”

  “No. Go to the control panel and find computer options.”

  Olivia typed a few strokes and then moved the mouse. “Got it.”

  “Now turn on the ‘show hidden files’ option.”

  Olivia made a few clicks. “Done.”

  “Okay. Go back to the Heaven folder, and tell me what you see.”

  Olivia started perusing the previously hidden files, and her jaw dropped. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

  “What are you seeing?” yelled Marco.

  “Believe it.”

  “What are you looking at?” queried Noah.

  Chad replied, “These are an elaborate maze of encrypted accounts. I can’t tell specifically what they are, but the labeling system indicates they are all from the East Asia Bank.”

  “That’s the Pittman Saunders corporate bank,” said Olivia. “They are all over the files my father wanted me to study.”

  “I can’t access these files from my end, but open them up, and tell me what you see.”

  Marco started tearing his hair out. “There’s nothing I can do.”

  Olivia typed some more and grimaced. “Forty strings of numbers. Looks like they are bank accounts. Can you get into them, Chad?”

  “I can try.”

  Thirty tense seconds passed by. “These guys could teach a lesson in bank security to the Swiss. No can do.”

  Olivia’s eyes lit up. “I can go to the bank and get them to tell me what these accounts are. After all, I am one of the Golden Asia attorneys.”

  “You’re not going without me, girlfriend,” said Abby over the phone. “I’ll meet you there when the bank opens. Bye.”

  The screen went dark.

  “The bank doesn’t open for another few hours. We can try to look for your dad until then,” said Noah.

  “If my father doesn’t want to be found, there is no way to find him.”

  “In that case, what are we going to do?”

  ***

  The big screens and the smaller ones all went dark.

  “What happened?” shouted an angry Chin.

  “When that idiot Chad told her to unplug and replug the cables, she disconnected our feed.”

  “Marco, can’t you just hack into the bank’s computers from here? Seems like the obvious thing to do,” grumbled Chin.

  “Not possible,” said Stella. “How many organizations like yours do you think there are in Asia of at least your size? How many countries have presidents whose main job is siphoning funds from their citizens into their personal coffers, all of them demanding a level of protection that makes America’s Homeland Security seem like child’s play?” asked Stella rhetorically. “There are at least seventeen of them at our bank... I know because I service every one of them.”

  “What do you suggest, Marco?” asked Chin.

  Marco drummed his fingers onto the control desk while looking at Stella. “Sometimes, you have to do things the old-fashioned way.”

  Chapter 39

  Office workers snickered as they passed Noah and Olivia’s office and saw the two of them slumped over sleeping on their desks. One worker took out her cell phone and snapped a picture.

  “What you doing that for?” asked an office mate.

  “I’ve been bucking for the Golden Asia file for two years. Never got a hint of a sniff. I can understand Garret putting his daughter on the file, but that other slacker doesn’t deserve the gig.” She texted the picture and smiled. “Okay, Garret Southam. Now what do you think of your new hire?”

  “They killed people on that file.”

  “But if I got paid a fraction of what Garret or Tommy made, I’d go to Heaven happy. He’s driving a Bentley. Not to mention the Lamborghini in his garage.”

  “Money isn’t everything.”

  “Only paupers say that.”

  As they walked away, the alarm on Noah’s computer rang. He and Olivia groggily awakened. Wiping the sleep out of his eyes, he cleared his throat and said to her, “I guess this means we are officially sleeping together.”

  Oh, brother. “Let’s go, Reid. Abby’s waiting for us at the bank.”

  Olivia and Noah rose out of their chairs and strolled nonchalantly past an office full of onlookers who gaped at mussy, messy duo who looked like they’d hardly slept and been partying all night. Well, they got half of that right.

  ***

  At precisely 9:00 a.m., the doors of the East Asia Bank opened and a flood of customers rushed in, including Olivia, Noah and Abby.

  Stella was at one of the wickets with a neon Closed sign flashing. Although she was seemingly occupied, she changed the sign to Open when the trio got to the front of the line. She cheerfully announced, “I’d be pleased to serve you here.”

  Olivia, Noah and Abby stepped to her wicket. Olivia and Noah pulled out business cards and handed them to Stella.

  “Pittman Saunders. We are Golden Asia’s attorneys,” said Noah in his best corporate voice.

  Olivia handed her a slip of paper. “May I have the balances on these accounts please?”

  “Of course.” Stella typed in one of the numbers. She looked at the notes then typed some more and looked at the notes on the new page. She repeated the process three more times and then frowned. Glancing at Abby and Olivia, who were growing increasingly concerned, she said, “Please bear with me. There is a considerable amount of follow-up and protocol that needs to be exercised.”

  Not the answer they wanted to hear, but they had no choice.

  For the next forty-five minutes, Stella went through the process for the next thirty-nine numbers, with the same results each time. “I’m sorry, but every one of these accounts has restricted access,” she said regretfully.

  Abby stepped in. “These are my father’s personal accounts from Golden Asia Investments.”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t have the authority to override this.”

  Abby started crying. “He passed away, and I want to finalize the settlement of his affairs. Please.”

  “I understand that, but all of these accounts were frozen this morning.”

  “By whom?” demanded Olivia.

  “I can’t tell you that. Client confidentiality.” Stella looked sorry that she couldn’t help them.

  “If you don’t tell me, I will ask my father, Garret Southam, who is the Pittman Saunders senior attorney for the Asia Pacific region and who personally leads the Golden Asia team to move all of our firm’s accounts.”

  Stella looked at Olivia with a touch of fear. “Then I don’t know what to do because Garret Southam is the one who froze them.”

  “We were here right at the bank opening, and we did not see him here. When did he do that?” asked Noah.

  “Mr. Southam has special banking privileges. He has concierge service on demand, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. I wasn’t around to take his call, but it could have been anytime between closing yesterday to opening today.”

  “Can you at least give us an idea of how much money is in the accounts?”

  “I’m sorry, but when accounts are frozen, especially if there is a suspicious death, only the most senior management has the authority to lift the freeze. Given that it was Garret Southam who gave the order, I am doubtful your request would be granted. At East Asia Bank, we ar
e particularly concerned for the privacy of our clients. Shall I call someone for you?”

  “No, if my father was the one who froze the accounts, he must have his reasons. Thank you.” Where the hell are you, Daddy?

  ***

  Stella watched as Olivia and Abby left the bank distressed and downhearted. She put the Closed sign back on, then walked to her office where Chin waited.

  “Did you have to keep me waiting that long?”

  “There was a problem.” She handed him the sheet of paper Olivia gave her. “Those are the numbers of the forty secret accounts. Some are personal; some are from private numbered companies. The reason I took so long is that none of them has any funds in them, and I wanted to verify that before coming to you.”

  “Nothing? There must be a mistake.”

  “No mistake. The money is somewhere else,” said Stella.

  Chin walked out.

  “Where are you going?” Stella called out.

  “There is nothing for me here anymore,” said Chin.

  Stella quickly chased after him.

  ***

  Walking along the street with Olivia and Noah, Abby took an infrared transmitter out of her purse. She had it locked on Stella’s computer while she searched the account for information.

  Olivia called Chad on her cell. “So what did you find?”

  “Nothing. When I looked into the bank’s computer system, it showed there were no funds, but there was something more than that. What’s crazy is that there were hundreds upon hundreds of no-money transactions. And I mean, like, from zero from one account to zero to another.”