Tough Justice: Countdown Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  Lara looked at the poor young girl working the register. “Would you mind trying one of them again if he buys a new coffee?” She slid one of Johnson’s cards forward. “I promise if he yells at you again, I’ll pull him out of here in cuffs.”

  The girl nodded. “Our manager is on break and stepped across the street.”

  Lara took that to mean that the manager would’ve already thrown Johnson’s loud, indignant ass out if she’d been there.

  The barista tried the credit card again and Lara could see when it was rejected. Johnson started to speak but Lara held a hand out in front of him, silencing him.

  “The others if you don’t mind?”

  The girl did it, then said in a small voice, “Same.”

  Lara got out her own credit card to pay for the coffee that Johnson very obviously didn’t need since he was already so strung out.

  It went through with no problem.

  “See?” Johnson said. “See? See? See?”

  Lara a little bit wished they’d let him blow up back at the docks.

  She signed the receipt then immediately handed the cup of coffee back to the barista. “Dump this please. If he has any more caffeine I might have to arrest him.”

  “Hey—”

  “You.” She pointed at Benjamin. “Call your bank. See what’s going on. It’s not the barista’s fault. And the FBI didn’t do this.”

  Benjamin deflated slightly. “Really? I thought for sure this was some sort of punishment for something.”

  “Just call, Johnson.”

  Poor Officer McKenney looked profoundly relieved that Ben seemed to be under control. He probably hadn’t expected protective detail to mean he would have to protect teenage coffee makers from Johnson.

  “Let me just read the number to you again, okay?” She could hear Johnson talking to the credit card operator. He repeated.

  “What do you mean there is no record of my account at all? I am sitting here with the card in my hand. The card has my name on it.”

  Lara grabbed his phone and disconnected the call. Ben didn’t even argue, the pallor on his face pronounced.

  “Ben, try calling about another card, just in case.”

  He nodded but they both knew the result would be the same.

  Lara grabbed her phone and dialed Christina.

  “Yo.”

  “Christina, it’s Lara. I need you to run Benjamin Johnson’s social security number for me.”

  “Lara, come on. I’m up to my eyeballs in this Halpert stuff—”

  “Just do it, Christina. I have a feeling it won’t take very long.”

  Ben jotted down the number as he spoke to another credit card operator and Lara read it off to Christina.

  “Name?”

  “Benjamin Henry Johnson.”

  “You sure that’s the right number?”

  Lara pointed to the number and Johnson nodded. “Yes, that’s it.”

  “There’s nothing in the system at all for a Benjamin Henry Johnson with that social.”

  Lara knew she could ask Christina to search further, but the info should’ve come up easily enough.

  Benjamin Johnson had been erased from the system.

  “Thanks, Chris.” Lara disconnected. Benjamin took one look at her face and did the same.

  “There’s no record of your social security number in the system.”

  “In what system?” Ben looked from Lara to Officer McKenney. “In like the FBI criminal system? Maybe I’m just not in that because I’m not a criminal.”

  There was no such thing as a criminal system, especially when it came to a basic search of a social security number. Lara shook her head. “You’re not in any of them.”

  Whatever color was left in Johnson’s face drained and he sat down in one of the oversize chairs in the coffeehouse. “Why is this happening?”

  Lara knew exactly why it was happening. Mitchell Halpert. Anyone smart enough to get through BrainWave’s firewalls and security wouldn’t have much difficulty with some identity theft.

  “We’ll get it sorted out, Ben. Just don’t—”

  Lara cut off when Ben’s phone gave a loud obnoxious chirp signaling a text message had arrived.

  “Oh, my God,” he muttered, standing slowly back up and spinning the phone around so Lara could read the message.

  Say one more word about me and you’ll never get your life back. Keep quiet and you may get to be you again.

  Ben’s face turned ashen. “The guy who took me did this?” Ben asked. “Is that possible?”

  More than possible. “Yes.”

  “So he’s a genius with bombs and with computers? Those are two entirely separate things, requiring different skills.” Benjamin’s voice was rising again.

  Lara grimaced. “He’s a smart guy, yes. But we’re going to get him, Johnson.”

  Ben looked like he wanted to say something further, but then turned and rushed out of the coffeehouse. Officer McKenney followed him.

  Lara stayed where she was. She didn’t think Ben was any physical danger, and McKenney would get him back to his apartment safely. She dialed Christina’s number again.

  “Christina Ruiz.”

  “It’s Lara again.”

  “I’m busy.”

  One thing Lara liked most about Christina was her no bullshit. “You know I’m your boss, right?”

  “Sorry. I’m busy, boss.” But Lara could hear the smile in the woman’s voice, even though her fingers never stopped tapping on the keyboard.

  “Quick question. How hard would it be for someone to hack in and cancel someone’s credit cards and mess with their social security number?”

  “This have to do with your earlier call?”

  “Yeah. It looks like Mitchell Halpert has messed with Benjamin Johnson’s—aka Selfie Guy—finances and social security.”

  “Well, based on what I know about Halpert? Guy could probably do it in his sleep.”

  “And he would not need to be anywhere near Ben Johnson to do that, right?”

  “Nope. Could do it from the other side of the planet.”

  “All right. Thanks, Christina.”

  “No problem.”

  The call to Christina didn’t give Lara any new information, just confirmed everything she’d already feared. Benjamin Johnson had an enemy and that enemy was brilliant, ruthless and a sociopath.

  But when she remembered Johnson taking all those pictures of himself in front of the sites where dozens of people had been killed, smiling with no regard whatsoever for the grief and pain of others? It was difficult to feel too sorry for Johnson.

  But she knew what he was doing right now at his apartment. He was Googling himself, trying to find information about Benjamin Johnson.

  And it wouldn’t be there. Nothing. Until they caught Halpert, or he decided to be magnanimous toward Johnson, Benjamin Johnson would cease to exist in the computerized world.

  Which was pretty much everywhere.

  Lara walked toward the door to head back to the office. She knew how scary it was to have your identity stripped away. Working deep undercover two years ago with the Moretti case had given her insight to that.

  It was terrifying.

  So instead of turning to catch a cab once she was outside, she turned to walk toward Johnson’s apartment.

  Johnson may be an ass, but if it was in Lara’s power to help him even a little bit she would do it.

  He looked just as shell-shocked inside his apartment as he had in the coffeehouse. McKenney let her in and she found Johnson where she thought he would be, poured over a computer.

  “I’m gone.” He looked over at Lara, terror etched into his features. “All my social media sites, my bank accounts, everythin
g. Gone. I don’t even exist.”

  “Ben.” Lara walked over to him. “Log out of the computer. It’s not going to do you any good and it just lets Halpert know he’s winning.”

  Benjamin nodded slowly and turned it off.

  “I don’t even exist anymore,” he said again.

  “You do exist, okay? Benjamin Johnson is more than just a collection of credit cards and sites on the internet.”

  Ben just stared at her like he couldn’t quite comprehend.

  “Look,” Lara continued. “I’ve never been a victim of identity theft, but a couple of years ago I had to work undercover. Deep undercover. For a long time. I started to lose sight of who Lara Grant really was. Like you are right now. We rely so heavily on online places nowadays to give us our interactions. Our identity. Our personality. When I didn’t have that available, I started to falter.”

  Benjamin was at least looking at her now. Comprehending what she was saying.

  “I know. And it’s hard. But those things aren’t what make up Benjamin Johnson. All your memories, your personality, your emotions? That’s what makes you exist. Not names, numbers or pictures in the cyberworld.”

  “I hate that bastard. I want to kill him.”

  “I guess I should probably discourage that since I took a law enforcement oath and all. But I’m not. You need to hold on to that anger, Ben. It’s much better than despair.”

  “I can’t believe he did this to me. As if kidnapping me and nearly blinding me wasn’t bad enough. Guy is a sicko.”

  Lara stood. Ben had made it through the worst of his crisis. He would be all right. “Some would say posting selfies at a vicious crime scene where people had died is also pretty sicko, Ben.”

  He shrugged. “Yeah. Maybe.”

  “I’m heading out. Stay put here and stay off the computer, at least to search about yourself.”

  “That’s not easy for me. My social life is online.”

  She slapped him on the shoulder gently. “Might be time for you to take up knitting.”

  He muttered something under his breath and she swore she heard the word bitch.

  “Good thing is, he doesn’t seem to be after you physically anymore. Isn’t trying to kill you. The rest we will get worked out.”

  “But when?”

  “It’ll take a little time. But we’ve got computer geniuses of our own who will get your identity back. Not sure about the social media, but at least the important stuff like your finances and social security number.”

  Ben just nodded. Lara knew that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but nothing could be done about it. Her first priority was not to make sure Benjamin Johnson could get on Facebook.

  Her priority was to make sure no one else died at Mitchell Halpert’s hand.

  Chapter Seven

  By the time Lara got back to the CMU offices, Xander and James had already left to go back out to Westchester. Christina was still working on recovering anything they could from the computers they transported from the Halperts’. Evidently he’d put some sort of self-destruct code in his hard drive that was making that pretty damn difficult.

  One more promising lead that was ending up being a dead end. They must be in double digits by now.

  Lara needed to type in what happened with Ben Johnson then get back out to Westchester County. She sat down at her desk to do just that.

  Christina came out of her office and saw Lara. “Why aren’t you using the office?”

  Lara looked over at the office door. Hell, she still didn’t think of it as her office, even temporarily. That office belonged to Victoria Russo. Not Lara. Not Nick.

  She wished her friend and mentor was here now. Couldn’t help but think the team was weaker without her leadership. Despite the bullshit about Oscar Mackworth, Lara still trusted Victoria implicitly. Knew Victoria might see things about this case that she and Nick and the CMU agents might be missing. Lara missed the other woman so damn much.

  She stood back up. Why the hell was she sitting here thinking about Victoria like she was dead? The woman had rented a house in the Hudson Valley. That was only an hour and a half away.

  Ten minutes later Lara was in a company car and on her way out to her friend. She called Victoria to let the other woman know she was coming, and kept a careful eye to make sure she wasn’t being followed. The last thing Lara wanted to do was lead more trouble to her friend’s door.

  Victoria sat on the porch swing of her wraparound porch when Lara arrived.

  “Looks like you’re enjoying the retired life,” Lara said as she climbed the stairs, file under her arm.

  Victoria smiled as she swung herself. “It definitely has its perks.”

  But neither of them said what they both knew was true: Victoria would be back in a second if she had the option.

  Lara sat down beside her. “How’s it going with you?”

  “Out here is definitely much better than in the city where the press were basically hounding Anna and me everywhere. I know it would’ve passed, but I just needed to get out of the city.”

  “I don’t blame you. But I want you to know we miss you.”

  “How’s the co-head of CMU job going?”

  Lara rolled her eyes. “Every hour I do your job I have more respect for you. I’m not sure I’m cut out for it, to be honest.”

  Victoria smiled. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not sure you’re cut out for it either, Lara.”

  “Thanks.” Lara’s feelings weren’t exactly hurt, but she hadn’t expected Victoria to come right out and say Lara wasn’t leadership material.

  Victoria chuckled. “I don’t mean I don’t think you could do it. I just feel like if you do take the permanent position you’ll regret it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Your strengths are in the field, not in coddling others. You color outside the lines.” Victoria leaned her shoulder into Lara. “I knew that before I ever made you part of the team, and it’s why you were able to bring down Moretti. You do stuff your own way. Maybe not always successfully, but you do it without apology. I always respected that.”

  “Yeah, well, my lack of team-playing skills has driven Nick just about batshit crazy.”

  “Nick is a lot different than you. He’s always going to follow the rules.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.”

  Victoria laughed again. “Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a weakness. Nick is able to see the bigger picture, see beyond what is happening right at that very second, and take it all into account.”

  “I can’t always do that.”

  “No, you can’t. But Nick also sometimes hesitates because he wants logic to rule his decisions.”

  “We’re definitely opposites.”

  “That’s why you two were good partners.”

  “Not so great lately. Not on this case. We can’t seem to get a handle on this guy. Although we did ID him. A Mitchell Halpert. Is the name familiar to you?”

  Victoria stopped the swing and stood. “No. But let’s get inside and fill me in. Maybe I can see something you guys can’t.”

  If anyone could it would be Victoria. They moved into the kitchen and Lara showed Victoria what they had. Oliviero’s updated profile. The pictures from the secret room they’d found in the house. The camping equipment.

  “He’s young,” Victoria said after studying it all for nearly a half hour. “Only twenty-one.”

  “Yeah, but he’s brilliant. And it looks like in multiple different areas. Computers and hacking for sure. Has taught himself how to make fairly sophisticated bombs. And Dr. Oliviero feels like he’s probably an expert at this wilderness survivalist stuff. He could be anywhere and we have no idea where.”

  “But he’s young, Lara. No matter how brilliant, he’s still
young.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I think he’s probably closer to home than anybody realizes. Control is important to this guy. And, like you said, he’s brilliant. So he probably had some sort of a backup plan.”

  That made sense.

  “For convenience sake, he wouldn’t have made a second location across the state,” Victoria continued. “And we’re not talking a tent here. Something permanent. Somewhere where he can probably store items and also access the internet.”

  “Absolutely. So that would mean needing electricity.”

  Victoria shrugged. “Maybe. But not definitely. If he’s learned about survivalist stuff, he’s learned how to make things work without traditional electricity.”

  They pulled up a map of Westchester County on Victoria’s computer.

  “I would focus on the state parks,” Victoria said, pointing to two of them. “Fort Portage or Cougar Mountain parks could both work for him. They’re close enough to Halpert to be useful, but not so close that you’d stumble over him.”

  “I’ll see if there are local survivalist groups Halpert might have been a part of.”

  Victoria nodded. “Or see if you can get a couple to come out and tell you where they would build a shelter if they were needing to hide out in that area. I think they’d probably love the challenge. A lot of them have nicknamed themselves TEOTWAWKI survivalists.”

  “Sounds like some Native American tribe.”

  Victoria laughed. “Stands for The End of the World As We Know It.”

  “All right, we’ll focus our attention at the parks and get some TEOTWAWKI peeps in there to help. This is good info, Victoria. Thank you.”

  They discussed a few more things before winding down. It was time for Lara to go. They both knew it. But neither of them began packing up the documents.

  “I trust you guys, I really do.” Victoria sat down on one of the stools surrounding the kitchen island where they’d laid out everything. “I know you’re going to catch him. But it’s hard not being there. Not being part of this.”

  “I know. I wish you were there, too. It’s not the same without you. The team...we’re struggling, Victoria.”