Natural Selection

by Liz Wolfe

  “You look serious,” Connor said from the bed.

  “Just thinking.”

  “You make it look painful.” Connor levered himself up. “What’s up?”

  Paige told him what she had been thinking about.

  “If it were me, I’d certainly check to make sure everything was taken care of.” Connor shifted and grimaced.

  “That’s what I’d do, too. Which means I don’t have much time.”

  “Much time to do what?”

  “Find them.”

  “And then what?”

  “Bring them to justice.”

  “And how do you expect to do that?”

  Excellent question and one Paige had no answer for. “I’ll figure it out as I go.”

  “That’s what I like. A solid plan. What’s the first step?”

  “I’m going back to Portland tomorrow. Eastland Industries is a Portland company, so that’s where they’ll be.”

  “Make it an afternoon flight.” Connor sank back against the pillows.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m going with you, and I need some sleep.”

  “I’ve had a lousy day, and it’s all your fault.” Shelby dropped her briefcase on her desk and glared at Zoe.

  “Me? I haven’t even seen you today.”

  “Oh, it’s not what you did today, it’s what you did when you came to EasTech the other day.”

  “You mean when I lifted Howell’s PDA? I thought that helped you.” Why did everything always come back to bite her in the ass?

  “It did. But now I need to get it again and since he ‘lost’ it the other day, he’s guarding it like a rabid hound.”

  “You need it again?” Zoe asked.

  “I know that he and Scoresby are meeting the men they’re selling the plans to on Friday. But I don’t know what time or where. I’m fairly certain they’ll meet in the warehouse again, but it would totally suck to be wrong about that.”

  “Yeah, that would suck,” Zoe agreed. “So, what are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea. Right now, I’m going to take a hot shower and make a pot of coffee.” Shelby started up the stairs to her living quarters.

  “Good idea,” Zoe called after her.

  Damn. She had to fix this. Shelby had told her how important it was. A matter of national security. A matter of her continuing to work at Parker Security and Investigations, too, she was thinking. She opened her purse and pulled out a tattered address book. She flipped through the pages, then punched in the phone number.

  “Hey, Alan, this is Zoe. How’s everything?”

  “Yeah, Zoe. What do you need this time?”

  “So much for the niceties, I guess. I need to download everything from a PDA.”

  “Yeah, that’s easy. I got a sweet little device that will download everything. Then you just plug the device into another PDA and it transfers all the data.”

  “Great.”

  “It’ll cost you about ten grand.”

  “I don’t want to buy it, Alan. I just want to use it.”

  “Yeah, I can do that. I’ll rent it out. Of course, if you mess it up, you’ll have to pay the entire ten grand.”

  “I’m in Portland and I need it tomorrow,” Zoe said and held the phone away from her ear.

  “What? Are you nuts? There’s no way I’m going to send this baby to you!”

  “Like I would ask you to. Don’t you know someone local I could get one from?”

  “Oh, maybe. Hold on a sec.”

  Zoe waited, listening to the clicks and taps as Alan accessed something on his computer.

  “Yeah. I got a contact. But I’ll need to call him first. He’s discreet, you know?”

  “I understand,” Zoe said. “When can I get in touch with him?”

  “I’ll call you back after I talk to him.”

  “Make it quick, Alan. I’m in a real tight spot here.”

  “You got it, Zoe.”

  CHAPTER

  THIRTY

  “YOU’RE NOT GOING WITH ME.” Paige stood with her hands on her hips.

  “The hell I’m not,” Connor argued. “You can’t go hunt those guys down all by yourself.”

  “The hell I can’t.” She sure as hell wasn’t going to let anyone or anything stop her.

  “Paige, be realistic. There’s four of them, and they have a lot of resources.”

  “I have resources. Besides, you’re injured.”

  “It’s a scratch, and what’s that got to do with it?”

  “You’ll slow me down. I’ll be worried about you getting hurt again.”

  A slow grin spread across his lips. “You’d worry about me? Really?”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Then what did you mean?”

  Paige took a breath to calm herself. “I meant that if you’re in pain, I’ll have to worry about you keeping up. You could push yourself too hard and end up in worse shape than you’re in now.”

  “It’s just a scratch,” he snarled.

  “Why are you so anxious to do this anyway? You think I can’t handle it?”

  “That’s not it. Hell, you can probably handle something like this better than anyone I know, and that’s saying something. I’m just saying I’d like to help you.” His face softened and Paige watched him intently.

  “They killed my friend. I have to go home and explain to his pregnant wife and his kids why he isn’t coming home again. Ever.” Connor looked away. “I’d like to be able to tell them that those bastards didn’t get away with it. It’s the least I can do.”

  Paige admitted that was a tough one. Not something she’d like to do. She totally understood the need to seek justice. That’s exactly what she was doing, wasn’t it?

  “Is that a problem for you?” Connor asked.

  “No. I mean, I understand how you feel. But I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “There’s another reason.”

  Hell, what now? Paige looked at him. “What?” she asked reluctantly.

  “I care about you. I don’t like to think of you going after those guys all alone.”

  There it was. Not exactly what she had expected, but close enough to cause her to lose her breath for a minute. Paige turned away until she could breathe again.

  “I take it that’s not exactly what you wanted to hear?” Connor asked softly.

  “It’s not that.” She searched for the right words but couldn’t find them. She really sucked at this kind of stuff.

  “Then what is it?”

  Paige forced herself to turn back to face him. “It’s just that a relationship doesn’t exactly fit into my plans right now.”

  “So what was that all about on the island?” His face had turned to stone.

  “You mean the fact that we had sex?” She shrugged.

  “I thought it was a little more than just sex.”

  “I’m not saying it was just sex. I like you. A lot. But I don’t see this going anywhere.”

  “And you don’t want to see if it might?”

  “I told you, I’ve bought a partnership in an agency. I’m committed to making the agency a success.”

  “And you can’t do that if you’re in a relationship?” He scowled. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Don’t you live in Alaska?” she asked. “Wouldn’t that be a problem? We’d be thousands of miles away from each other.”

  Connor shrugged. “I own a couple of planes.”

  “Would that be enough for you? Flying down to see me once in a while?”

  “I don’t know, Paige. I’m willing to give it a shot. I’d like to find out.” Connor patted the bed. “Come here.”

  Paige walked over and stood by the bed. He took her hand and pulled her down beside him, then drew her head to his shoulder. That felt way better than it should have.

  “Not knowing what’s going to happen is part of the fun in life.”

  “Not for me.” Paige shook her head. “I like knowing exactly where I�
��m going and how I’m getting there and when I’m getting there.”

  “And I like flying by the seat of my pants.”

  “We have nothing in common,” Paige said.

  “True. Whole thing probably won’t work out anyway.”

  “Hell, we don’t even know if we’ll like each other in the real world.”

  Zoe waited until Shelby had been gone for half an hour before she punched in the code to send the calls to voice mail and left the office. She drove to small storage space she’d rented and unlocked the five by ten room. Flicking the light on, she closed the rolling door behind her and stooped to open one of the three boxes.

  Damn, she was glad she’d had Leon send this stuff to her from Phoenix. She hadn’t minded leaving her life as a thief behind when she took Shelby up on her offer to work for Parker Security and Investigations. But there were some things she just wasn’t ready to part with. Actually, she hadn’t thought she’d ever need them again, but she couldn’t leave them there. And Leon owed her more than one favor. He had been happy to box the stuff up and ship it to her address. Which, of course, was just one of those mailbox places. Zoe had cancelled her account with them as soon as she had received the boxes. It hadn’t been easy leaving all her friends and her entire life behind her. But if her unusual life had taught her anything, it was when to cut loose and move on.

  She pulled out a utilitarian gray coverall and a white hardhat, and then dug for the laminated ID badge that would make the outfit look official. Finally, she pulled out a clipboard and a small electronic device. She quickly pulled the coveralls on over her jeans and T-shirt, took the hardhat, clipboard and electronic unit, and locked the door behind her. She’d already stopped by the hardware store and purchased a three-foot, silver-tone rod normally used for hanging curtains.

  The drive to David Howell’s condo, a few miles south of downtown Portland, took less than ten minutes. Each building held four two-level units that all faced into a common courtyard. And each building featured a security gate to the courtyard. Like that was going to keep anyone out. Especially her.

  Zoe put the hardhat on, tucked the electronic device into her pocket and got out of the car. She looked around as she took her time getting the silver rod and clipboard out of the back seat. As she’d expected, the area was devoid of people. These were the kinds of condos owned by young people who worked long hours and didn’t have the time a single family home in the suburbs required. She fingered her set of lock-picks as she approached the gate.

  Damn! A man in his thirties, dressed in a pale blue shirt and dark gray suit came out of one of the condos. Couldn’t anyone go to work on time any more? Zoe was sure it was all that telecommuting stuff she’d read about. Someday everyone would just get up and plug in to their computer, and that would be the extent of existence. Zoe started fumbling in her pocket as she approached the gate.

  “May I help you?” the man in the gray suit asked as he opened the gate.

  “Oh, no, I’m fine. Just looking for the right key. Zoe pulled out a handful of keys with small discs attached. “I should be more organized.”

  “What are you here for?” he asked.

  “The courtyard is being landscaped.”

  “It’s already landscaped.”

  Zoe snorted. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. But the condo association hired us to replace some of the plants that are diseased.” Zoe paused and looked at the man. “Of course, it’s never that simple. So we came up with a new landscape design. Putting in a water feature, some benches, all new plants.”

  “A water feature?” the man asked.

  “Right. You know. Rocks, water plants, waterfall, Koi—all that stuff.”

  “Well, it’s about time they did something to improve the common areas.” The man sniffed. “Frankly, I was about ready to give up and move to a better place.”

  Zoe shook her head. “I know what you mean. A lot of times they just don’t understand how important this stuff is. I mean, really.” Zoe rolled her eyes. “Don’t they know that your guests have to walk through this area to get to your unit?”

  “What’s your part in this?” he asked.

  “Oh, I’m just here to check the drainage in the courtyard and make some notes about the existing conditions.” She picked through the collection of keys in her hand.

  “That looks like the right one.” He pointed at one of the keys. Zoe slipped the key into the lock but it didn’t turn. As she had known it wouldn’t.

  “No. That isn’t it. I wish they would just label the damn things.” She picked another key. One that she knew was specially formed to slide into almost any lock. She inserted the key and turned it. The key turned, although it didn’t move the lock mechanisms. Zoe took care of that herself, as she distracted the man with her endless chatter. “There. That’s the right one.”

  “You’re wearing gloves,” he observed.

  Zoe nodded. “Do you know what a job like this can do to a thirty dollar manicure?” she asked. “I learned that lesson when I first started.”

  “I know what you mean,” he said looking at his own well-kept nails. “When will they start working?”

  “Depends.” Zoe shrugged. “They take the data I collect and analyze it before they decide exactly which plants to put in. But the work on the water feature will probably start in a couple of weeks.”

  “Good. I’ll look forward to it.” The man waved and walked down the sidewalk.

  Zoe waved back and sighed when he’d left. The lock picks in her pocket would have been much faster. She let the gate close behind her and walked over to the front of Howell’s unit. There was a keypad attached to the wall next to the front door. Zoe smiled when she recognized the brand. No problem getting past it. Zoe was almost certain that was the extent of Howell’s security system, but she spent another hour checking around his unit to make sure she wouldn’t run into any other barriers later that night.

  Satisfied she knew exactly what she would encounter, she walked around the courtyard sticking her metal rod into the ground, glancing at the electronic device, and scribbling on her clipboard. Just in case anyone was watching. Her next stop was a small computer repair shop in a strip mall.

  “Can I help you?” a short, thin man asked when she entered.

  “I’m looking for a specific device. Alan Z sent me.”

  “Really? Never heard of him.” The man shook his head and turned away.

  “I’ll be sure and let Alan know how much help you’ve been.” Zoe turned and started for the front door.

  “Hey. You really know Alan?” the man asked.

  “That should be obvious,” Zoe said, her hand on the doorknob.

  “You know Sara, too?” he asked.

  “If you mean his wife, Sandra, she died ten years ago. But if you mean his daughter, Sage, yeah, I know her.”

  “Yeah, Sage. That’s her name. Pretty blond hair and green eyes.”

  “Hey, I don’t know what Sage you know, but Alan’s daughter has black hair and blue eyes.” Zoe stared at him for a moment. “You through playing games?”

  “Yeah, okay. Just wanted to make sure, you know?”

  “Whatever,” Zoe said, taking her hand off the doorknob. “Alan told me you’d rent me a device to download data from a PDA.”

  “Sure, I’ve got a device that does that. What do you need it for?”

  “That’s none of your business. How much?”

  “Christ. Nobody has any social skills any more. It’s just all business. Was a lot more fun a few years ago.”

  “How much?”

  “Five hundred. And that’s for one twelve-hour period. I use it here all the time, so I can’t be having it out all that often.”

  Zoe pulled five bills from her wallet. “Here. How does it work?”

  He pulled a device from under the counter. “You plug this into the PDA and push this button. After the download is finished, you’ll hear a beep. Then you plug this into the new PDA and push this button. You�
�ll hear another beep and it’s all done.”

  “No problem.”

  “Word of warning. When you download to the new PDA, it wipes out anything on the device and replaces it with the new data. It works best if you’re using a PDA of the same brand. Otherwise you could encounter some issues. If that happens, I can help you out, but it’ll cost extra.”

  “I won’t have any issues, but I appreciate the offer. I’ll have this back by six tomorrow morning.”

  “That’s more than twelve hours. I’ll have to charge you more.”

  “No, I don’t think you will. You’re doing a good deal here.” Zoe looked around. “You wouldn’t want me telling Alan you took advantage of one of his friends, would you?”

  The little man sighed. “Like I said, no one is sociable any more. There’s no fun in the deal.”

  Zoe pocketed the device and smiled. “I promise I’ll be more fun next time. I’m in a rush right now. Thanks.”

  “Sure. No problem. Don’t make me come looking for that tomorrow,” he called as she left the shop.

  CHAPTER

  THIRTY-ONE

  PAIGE AND CONNOR CAUGHT A LAST flight for Portland that afternoon and arrived shortly after seven. After shuffling through the airport and waiting for a cab, they pulled up to Paige’s apartment shortly after eight.

  “This is your home town, the big city?” Connor got out of the cab and looked around.

  Paige lived in a warehouse that had been converted to loft apartments. The building was on the edge of the downtown area and took up half the block. Two more warehouses occupied the other half of the block. One had been turned into apartments, and the other was in the process of being refurbished. The street level of the buildings contained a few small shops and lobbies leading to the apartments.

  “I don’t know that I’d consider Portland a big city.” She pulled some bills out and paid the cabbie. “My apartment’s on the third floor in the corner.”

  “You always leave your lights on?” he asked.

  Paige looked up at her window. The lamp on her desk was illuminated. “No, never.”