Natural Selection

by Liz Wolfe

  “Let’s get some sleep. No guard duty tonight.”

  Paige had gotten into the habit of sleeping next to Connor, but after finding herself pressed against him that morning, she was hesitant to snuggle into the bed of leaves. She was even less inclined to give him a reason for sleeping somewhere else. She could imagine his reaction. Finally, she settled for telling herself she had only been seeking his warmth, and that it wouldn’t happen again. With her conscience appeased, she joined Connor on the makeshift bed.

  “You sure you don’t want me to stand guard?” Ty asked. “I don’t mind.”

  “Thanks, Ty. But it really isn’t necessary.” Another rumble of thunder almost drowned out her words. “No one in his right mind would go out in this kind of weather.” Not that she thought the Hunters were in their right minds.

  On that slightly discomforting thought she drifted off to sleep.

  CHAPTER

  EIGHTEEN

  PAIGE WOKE BEFORE DAWN AND CREPT out of the cave while the others were still sleeping. She was usually a loner and being in the constant company of the others was wearing on her. At least she could take a bath before the others woke up. It was too early for the Hunters to be looking for them, and for a few precious minutes she could pretend they weren’t in danger. And that five other people weren’t looking to her to get them away from that danger.

  Dawn was just breaking when Paige reached the stream with the waterfall. She stripped down to her underwear and dove in. As wonderful as the water felt, as great as it was to be alone for a few minutes, her mind still turned to the Hunters. Who the hell were these men? And why had they chosen this particular group? They were all connected somehow by Eastland Industries. Paige wanted to know exactly what the connection was, but it wasn’t going to matter if they didn’t get away. First get away; then she could start investigating.

  Paige swam over to the waterfall and stripped out of her underwear, using a small amount of soap to wash and rinse them. Then she soaped herself and shampooed her hair. She’d discovered that one of the advantages of really short hair was that it took only a few drops of shampoo, so she didn’t have to horde her small stash. She could shampoo whenever she wanted. After a lifetime of dealing with two feet of hair, it felt strange to have her fingers thread through hair that was barely two inches long.

  By the time she was done, it was almost full light, and she swam back to shore. She wrung as much water out of her underwear as she could and hung them from a tree limb. The idea of a real shower and clean clothing seemed like heaven to her right now.

  She still didn’t know what to do with short hair. She tried to squeeze water from it, but there wasn’t even enough to get her hands around. Finally, she just shook her head like a dog. It made her a little dizzy but got a lot of the water out. She raked her fingers through it, pleased that she didn’t have the tangles she was used to dealing with. Short hair was definitely a plus in some situations.

  Paige reached for her damp underwear and heard a noise. Jerking to attention, she scanned the brush, thinking about what kind of animal might be out there, when Connor crashed through the foliage. She hadn’t counted on that kind of animal.

  They stared at each other for a moment, then Connor raced over to her, taking her shoulders in his big hands and giving her a shake.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” He looked furious, and Paige tried not to smile at him.

  “I woke up and there was no trace of you. Did you really think it was a good idea to leave camp all by yourself? Well, did you?” he demanded without giving her a chance to answer.

  “God! You worried me to death!” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

  That felt really nice. It also reminded Paige that she was stark naked. From the movement she felt pressed up against her body, she guessed it reminded Connor of the same thing. His hands started caressing her back. That felt really nice, too. Although she knew it was probably a bad idea, her body leaned into him, pressing her breasts against his chest.

  One of his hands slipped down to cup her bottom, and she felt a quiver start low in her belly. He pulled her up against him, and she couldn’t help squirming. Paige knew it should have been squirming to get away, but it was more like squirming to get closer. His other hand cupped her chin and lifted her face to his.

  Her breath stopped, waiting for him to kiss her. His dark blue eyes looked into hers and she didn’t think he was ever going to look away, so she dropped her gaze to his mouth.

  That was definitely a mistake on her part.

  His lips were parted, and Paige felt her hand move up to trace their outline. Connor responded to the unspoken invitation by lowering his head. It wasn’t one of those crushing kisses that some men are so fond of. He just moved his lips over hers, nipping at the corners. For all their firmness, they were incredibly soft. Inviting, really. And who was she to refuse an invitation like that? Her lips parted as well, and she felt his tongue trace the edge of them. Oh, boy, this guy was really, really good. Soon they were doing a tongue tango like they’d been partners forever.

  Evidently the fact that Paige was still naked hadn’t escaped Connor’s attention, and his hands got into the act. She felt them move up to cup her breasts and thought that this probably wasn’t the best time for this sort of activity. He moved his hands over her nipples, and she decided that she was wrong about the timing being bad. It was perfect.

  Suddenly her biggest problem was that his shirt was still between them. She fumbled with buttons until she had it undone down to his shorts. She pulled the shirt open and leaned back to give her hands room to move over his chest.

  His nipples were suffering from the same turgid condition that was affecting hers. He seemed to be enjoying the attention because he leaned back to give her a little more room. That required him removing his hands from her breasts, which she might have protested if they hadn’t drifted down to her waist, then around her hips, cupping her bottom and pulling her tighter against him.

  Now his damn shorts were in the way.

  Her hands seemed to move to his waistband all by themselves. She tugged at the button and then the zipper, finally reaching the object she desired.

  “Dear God!” he moaned.

  Paige’s eyes flew from his shorts up to his face. What the hell was she doing?

  “This is probably a bad idea,” she croaked, her throat and mouth suddenly dry.

  “No, no. Good idea,” Connor insisted in a hoarse whisper.

  “No, really. What are we thinking? We don’t even have any protection.”

  “Protection?”

  “Yeah, you know. Like a condom?”

  “Hell, Paige, we’re probably gonna die anyway.” Connor chuckled and pulled her against him, pressing their bare bodies together.

  “Not if I can help it.”

  “God, I love your attitude. Protection, then.” Connor pulled away and reached into his hip pocket to find his wallet, from which he pulled a condom package.

  Oh. He had protection. Well. Her mind whirled with a hundred reasons why they shouldn’t be doing this and then a thousand why they should. Pretty much it boiled down to the fact that she really, really wanted to. He seemed to really want to as well. They were adults. And besides, he could be right, and they could be dead any time.

  Connor tore at the plastic envelope containing the key to their mutual satisfaction with no success. Having made up her mind that this was the best possible thing they could do at this particular time, she ripped the package out of his hands. The little plastic envelope was supposed to have a slit at the edge of the top for easy opening. It didn’t. She tore. She pulled. Nothing. Finally, she ripped it open with her teeth.

  Paige pulled the condom out with shaking hands telling herself not to drop it in the dirt. Connor had shimmied out of his shirt and shorts and was breathing hard. She placed the condom just so and slowly unrolled it over him. He jerked and swelled in her hand.

  Oh, yeah.

 
Shelby slammed the door of her rental car and resisted the urge to kick the fender. Only because she was wearing a pair of expensive heels. She paid a lot of money for car insurance, and all she got was a lousy Cavalier while her Mini Cooper was in the shop. But what really bothered her was the report from her mechanic. The brakes hadn’t simply failed. They had been tampered with. The brake lines had been cut, along with the cable to the emergency brakes. Whoever had done it didn’t want to take any chances. The problem was she had no idea who had done it, or why. Who wanted her dead? Stupid question. There had been more than a few people in that category over the years. But that was then. When she’d been a black ops agent for the Federal Security Agency. Now, she was just a private investigator. She didn’t even have any interesting cases at the moment. Well, except for the one she had just arrived for.

  Which brought her back to where she was and why she was here. Shelby straightened the jacket of her conservative gray suit, strode into the US Bank building, and punched the call button for the elevator. She used the short ride up to the seventeenth floor to clear her mind of everything. The car. The brakes. Zoe’s constant complaining about the books and wanting to be more involved in the agency.

  Shelby stepped off the elevator and was greeted by David Howell, which was a surprise. She’d expected Howell would delegate his secretary to escort her to her work area and give her a tour of the offices.

  “Shelby, good to see you.” He offered a hand. “You look perfect for the part.”

  “Thank you. What’s the plan for today?”

  “First of all, I’ll show you your office.” Howell put a hand under her elbow and guided her down the hall. “I was actually hoping you would have a plan. I’m kind of new to this sort of thing.”

  “No problem.” Shelby extracted her elbow from his grip. “I asked because some clients have a very definite idea of how they want the investigation to go. But, if you’re open to suggestions, I have a few.”

  “Sure, whatever you want.” Howell stopped in front of a door. “Here’s your office. For as long as you need it.” He opened the door and gestured Shelby inside.

  The office was standard middle management issue. A wooden desk, a high-backed office chair, two upholstered chairs in front of the desk, and a couple of file cabinets. The computer on the desk looked fairly new. Shelby was pleased that he’d given her an office rather than a cubicle. Her job would be easier not having to worry about who might be looking over her shoulder.

  “First of all, I’ll need access to the network,” Shelby said.

  “Of course. Let’s go see the network guy.” David stepped out of the office and waited for Shelby to accompany him. As they walked down the hall, Shelby glanced around.

  The office setup was a cluster of cubicles with private offices for managers on the perimeter. Most of the office doors were closed, and Shelby surmised that “management” usually arrived a little later than the general workforce.

  “Here we are.” David knocked on a door. “I’d let us in, but I can’t remember the door code,” he explained, gesturing to the key pad next to the door. A man in his early twenties, wearing jeans and a Grateful Dead T-shirt, opened the door.

  “What’s up, Mr. Howell?”

  “Arnie, this is Shelby Parker. She’s a new marketing executive, and she’ll need access to the network.”

  “What kind of access?” Arnie asked.

  “Everything,” Shelby said. “I’m taking over the CommLink account, but I’ll also be providing input on the other accounts. You said I’d need access to all the files, didn’t you, David?”

  “Uh, yes, of course.” David said.

  Shelby walked to the other side of Arnie’s room and motioned for David to join her. “I need access to everything if I’m going to find the culprit,” she whispered.

  David’s cell phone chirped, and he held up a finger as he pulled the phone from a pocket. After talking for a moment, he returned the phone to the pocket.

  “I’ve got to run. Arnie, give Shelby access to whatever she needs. Shelby, I hate to run, but this is important. Can you find your way back to your office?”

  “Of course.” Shelby turned to Arnie and smiled.

  Arnie pushed his desk calendar and coffee cup aside and pulled over his keyboard. Shelby glanced at his calendar, noted that he had a dental appointment at ten that morning, and moved to one side of his chair so she could watch him log into the network administration system. She automatically memorized the system administrator login ID, but only saw part of the password he used to access the system. Crap. She could get the rest of the password, but it would have been easier if she’d been able to see all of it.

  “OK, I’m setting up access to all the directories for all the clients.” Arnie typed in the commands on his keyboard. “Hey, do you need access to the government directories?”

  “Yes, I’ll be doing some work on those as well.” Government directories? David hadn’t mentioned any work they were doing for the government. Probably because it had no bearing on her investigation. Still, if someone in the company was selling software source code, he should be concerned about the security on the government work.

  Shelby’s initial reaction to David hadn’t changed. She still didn’t like him. She just wasn’t sure why. That made her wish Mac were there. He had an uncanny ability to see through a person, right down to his real motives.

  “OK, you’re all set.” Arnie handed her a sticky note with her user ID and temporary password. “The first time you log in, you’ll need to change that password.”

  “Sure. Thanks a lot, Arnie.” Shelby looked around the computer room. “You’ve got a nice setup here.”

  “Yeah. I usually get whatever I ask for. All state-of the-art stuff.”

  “What’s that? About a dozen servers?” Shelby asked, walking over to the rack that held a bank of servers.

  “Fifteen,” Arnie said, following her. “And that’s not counting the server we use for the in-house backups. Or Klingon, of course.”

  “Klingon?” Shelby smiled. “You a Trekkie?”

  Arnie blushed. “Well, it’s just the nickname we gave to the government project.”

  “I love Star Trek,” Shelby said. “Watched it ever since the original. TNG was my favorite.”

  “Yeah, mine, too. Although Voyager was good, too.”

  “Oh, sure, Voyager was great,” Shelby agreed. “So you named the government server Klingon?”

  “Well, it fits, you know. Cloaking device and all that.”

  “Oh, right, the cloaking device. I can’t remember the official name of it.” Shelby laughed. “David told me, but there’s only so much I can assimilate at one time.”

  “MARD,” Arnie said. “What a stupid name. Mobile Anti-Radar Device.” He rolled his eyes. “That’s why we named it Klingon. But don’t tell Mr. Howell. He doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.”

  “I noticed.” Shelby nodded and grinned at him. “Thanks for setting me up, Arnie. I’ll see you around.”

  “Sure.” Arnie waved. “If you need anything, just let me know.”

  Shelby walked down the hall, found her office, and slid into the chair. She looked at the sticky note again to be sure she’d memorized the ID and password, then tore it into little pieces and tossed it into the trash can. She knew Howell probably expected her to investigate the source code theft by talking to the employees, examining their lives, looking at who would have a reason to steal source code and sell it. She hadn’t bothered to correct that impression. Legwork always impressed the clients. It took a lot of time, and the client always felt it was worth the money. But it wasn’t the best way to catch this thief.

  Shelby figured to catch an electronic thief, you use electronic investigation. She glanced at her watch. Nine-thirty. She’d give Arnie another half hour to leave for his dental appointment before she went back to the server room. In the meantime, she could check out what she already had access to. She turned on the computer, logged in wit
h her ID, and changed the password.

  There wasn’t really anything she could learn about the source code theft from the access Arnie had given her. That would have to wait until she could get into the server room. But she was curious about the government work EasTech was doing. Shelby navigated to the Klingon server and looked at the directories. Most of them seemed dedicated to design and testing. She opened the Administration directory, then the folder labeled Communication.

  After scanning several of the documents, she sat back in her chair more puzzled than ever that David hadn’t mentioned this project. EasTech was developing a Mobile Anti-Radar Device for the U.S. government. Arnie had been right when he referred to it as a Klingon Cloaking Device. The unit could be built into or attached to any number of planes, tanks, and ships. It effectively rendered the object invisible to radar. That was huge.

  Shelby knew that EasTech would be expected to adhere to the Department of Defense security protocols. Whether they actually did that was another issue. Of course, she had no reason to think that they weren’t. She had only gotten access to the server by telling Arnie that she would be working on it, and the fact that David had hurriedly told Arnie that she should have access to “everything”. He probably hadn’t meant to include the government server. Still, she had access, and she would have to let David know that he needed to tighten the security in that regard.

  Shelby checked her watch. Five after ten. Arnie would be at his appointment. She logged out of her computer and retraced her steps to the server room, slipped inside and locked the door behind her. She sat at Arnie’s desk, pulled a flash drive from her pocket, and plugged it into the USB port. She accessed the flash drive and opened the password detection program. Typing in the part of the password she had been able to see, Shelby started the program to get the rest of it.