by Toby Neal
“Oh yes. Please come in. Anna has been asking about you all the time.” She opened the door wide. “Anna!” She called.
Sophie heard the pattering of running feet and smiled as Anna ran into the room. She would never have recognized the bouncy, pigtailed little girl who embraced her enthusiastically as the shell-shocked child she’d carried out of the closet.
“Sophie!” Anna exclaimed. “You brought Bun-Bun back!”
“He kept me company for a while, but he wanted to be back at your house,” Sophie said, handing the rabbit over.
“He’s all clean!” Anna embraced the rabbit. “Did he help you sleep at night? Because I have trouble sleeping sometimes.”
“He did. He’s very snuggly and good at helping people sleep.”
“Let me show you my room.” Anna towed Sophie down the hall. Sophie glanced back. Anna’s mother was making tea in the kitchen.
“You go on,” she said. “Let Anna tell you all about the book she’s been making with Dr. Souza.”
They went down the hall. Anna’s room was at the end.
“I see you like rabbits.” Sophie looked around at wallpaper covered with bunnies, curtains with bunnies, and bunny-themed bedding.
“Bun-Bun started it,” Anna said. “I want to show you the story book I made with my counselor.”
Sophie allowed herself to be pulled over to the child’s desk. On it was a booklet made out of stapled sheets of paper. On the cover was written WHAT HAPPENED in wavering capitals, decorated by a drawing of a tall brown woman holding a girl wearing a nightgown in her arms. Orange wings came from the woman’s shoulders, each feather drawn carefully, filling the page.
“The wings are supposed to be gold,” Anna said. “But I just had orange. See, that’s you rescuing me.”
Sophie felt her eyes well up. “Nice,” she said, blinking and looking away.
“No, look here.” Anna tugged her hand, refusing to let Sophie’s attention wander. “I want to show you how it was.” Anna opened the booklet, and took Sophie through a visual narrative of her kidnapping.
The men who broke in through her window and took her.
The dark closet.
The scary noises.
Anna praying for her mom to find her.
The sound of guns.
The angel who flew down from the ceiling and fought the bad guys.
The angel carrying her out of the building back to her mom and dad.
“And that’s you,” Anna finished triumphantly. “I know you have to hide your wings most of the time, but I saw them.”
“That’s a beautiful booklet.” Sophie didn’t want to cry in front of Anna and scare her. “You draw really well.”
“Dr. Souza says you aren’t really an angel, but I know what I saw. Thank you for bringing Bun-Bun home.” Anna went over to the bed and put the rabbit up against the pillow, much as Sophie had done at her own apartment. “Mom made a copy of the book, so this one is for you.” She thrust the original booklet into Sophie’s hands. “Mom said she was going to fix us a tea party snack. She saves the good snacks for when people come over.”
“Okay.” Sophie followed, towed along in the girl’s wake, an ocean liner behind a tugboat. “But I can’t stay long. I left my dog in the car.”
“You have a dog? I love dogs!”
Sophie ended up in the back yard having a tea party with Anna, Anna’s mother, Bun-Bun, and Ginger.
Later, replete with sugar cookies and tea, Sophie and Ginger bade Belle and Anna goodbye. Back in the Lexus, Ginger sat on the passenger seat as Sophie dabbed at the cut on her cheek, broken open from too much smiling.
“I could get used to being someone’s angel,” she told the dog, stowing the booklet carefully in her bag. Ginger thumped her tail in agreement. Before she turned on the Lexus, she checked her email.
The Ghost had written her back. Her taunt that she’d find him had worked.
“Good hunting.”
She laughed, and put the car in gear. There were ghosts to catch.
Acknowledgments
Aloha dear readers!
If this is your first Toby Neal book, thanks so much for picking up Wired In, a whole new direction with a beloved side character from my bestselling Lei Crime Series. If you’re already one of my reader ohana, thanks so much for taking a chance on Sophie Ang’s story—I plan at least two more books in her series, and I’m so excited to write them!
Sophie first appeared in Book 4 of the Lei Crime series, Broken Ferns. She was so compelling that I gave her a point of view in the book—something I’d never done before or since—and then I had to keep editing back to keep the story focused on Lei Texeira, my main character. Sophie demanded her own book, and finally I gave it to her—and along the way, realized I wanted to do a whole new series with her as the main character…So if you enjoyed this one, sign up for new title notifications and keep your eyes open for Wired Hard, #2, and Wired Rogue, #3, in the Paradise Crime Series.
Thanks go to several people for helping with this complicated book: first, mahalo to my son Caleb Neal, who agreed to be my tech consultant. I’m not ‘techie.’ I don’t have the instinctive connection with the Internet and its machines that Sophie does. After describing the plot and Sophie’s job and the D.A.V.I.D. program, Caleb gave me all the information he could. I went ahead and wrote the book, making up stuff wildly—“can you really ‘backtrace’ another program? Could you track a location via the Internet? Was a program like DAVID even possible? Can you send data remotely from a hacked-into computer?” Frankly I had no idea—so it was huge good news when, after reading the book, Caleb explained how my made-up ideas were actual reality and gave me names for them—not only that, he enjoyed the book, giving me hope I’d be able to reach a new demographic of readers.
Secondly, thanks go to my wonderful agent Laurie McLean, who helped me with edits on the book and did her darndest to get me the right deal with it. Thanks, Laurie, you’re the best!
Thanks also to talented novelist Holly Robinson, who gave me a lot of great feedback on deepening Sophie’s character. Creating a woman like Sophie is challenging. Her abs alone could be intimidating to other women, not relatable enough, and Holly helped me see ways I could show the deeper sides of Sophie that we all share. I know I’d probably be intimidated, meeting Sophie in real life, thinking we’d never have anything in common…but Sophie has her wounds and struggles, like we all do, and she’s trying to heal them. I’m excited to see that happen, and I hope she’ll find love someday.
Thanks to (retired) Captain David Spicer, who was especially tickled at the name of Sophie’s rogue data mining program! Mahalo for your help keeping my police work real.
If you liked the story, please leave a review. Especially important with a new series! It really helps readers find the books, and they are the best gift an author can receive. Until next time, I’ll be writing!
Much aloha from Maui,
Toby Neal
I hope you enjoyed Wired In! If you think other readers will enjoy it too, please leave an honest review on Amazon. Your thoughts matter so much, and I read them all!
Much aloha, Toby Neal
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Read on for a sample of the next book in the series!
Excerpt Wired Rogue
Sitting in her new Security Solutions office with DAVID booting up on her laptop and a mug of strong Thai tea at her elbow, Sophie decided she’d done the right thing by choosing to take the job. She badly needed somewhere to be, things to do. Sitting alone in that ugly apartment was not a good thing.
Dunn blew in. “I thought we’d begin our case by building profiles of the missing cult mothers. Our client arrives in half an hour, to give us their names and as much background as she knows.”
“Good. That’s how we’d do it in the FBI,” S
ophie said. The laptop’s screen was too small, so she’d hooked up to the monitor Security Solutions had provided.
“What’ve you got back there?” Dunn loomed over her desk. He smelled of something lemony and masculine, and the tiny hairs on her arms lifted in awareness.
She didn’t take her eyes off her screen. “Remarkian didn’t hire me for my skills in the field. I come with some extras.”
Dunn grinned. “I can make that happen for you, I guarantee it.”
“Inappropriate, Dunn.” Sophie slanted a glance at him. “As if I’d ever sleep with a partner. I can’t work with you if you keep up the sexual harassment.”
“Hey. Can’t blame a guy for trying.” Dunn blinked his pretty eyes and shrugged his big shoulders. “Gotcha. Platonic and professional. That’s how you want it, that’s how it will be.”
“Good.” Sophie felt better for smacking him down. Dunn struck her as the “give an inch and he’ll take a mile” type. She turned the monitor so Dunn could see the data on the screen and the program’s process results cache box. It was time to share the program with him—he had to know how it worked if they were going to use it on cases. “This is DAVID. The reason I left the FBI. DAVID stands for Data Analysis Victim Information Database. It’s a data-mining program that can penetrate law enforcement information storage and sift through cases and aggregate results. It seeks information using keywords, and then uses a confidence ratio to assess results. I’ve entered everything I know about the Society of Light and the situation at the cult: the compound, the number of people there, the children, and the background of Jackson. I asked DAVID how likely it is that the children’s mothers were murdered. You can see the result here.”
Dunn leaned in close, squinting. “What am I looking at?”
“A sixty-two percent confidence ratio that the women were murdered. Which is very strong. These confidence ratios are seldom that high because they can only work off of known data that’s been inputted, and a lot of case information never makes it into the electronic databases.” Sophie swiveled the monitor back. “The other thing DAVID can do is retrieve data from confidential sites based on keywords. I’m going to have it sift for everything to do with the cult’s finances. I want to know where Jackson gets his money and if there’s any financial motive for the women’s deaths.”
Dunn straightened up and whistled low through his teeth. “You’re even better than I thought.”
“None of it would be admissible in court, though.” Sophie said as she stood. She straightened the same white button-down blouse and smoothed the loose-fitting black Lycra work pants she’d worn at the FBI. She’d brought gym clothes and her “disguise” outfit to change back into when she left Security Solutions for the day. “But we can use it to get evidence that can be.”
“That’s the thing about private contracting. We don’t have to worry about a court case unless it’s what the client wants or our investigation uncovers a bigger crime. Of course, if we find any evidence of murder, we’ll want to turn that over to Hilo PD. Follow me. Let’s go meet the client.”
Sophie unplugged her laptop and tucked it under her arm, walking to the conference room behind Dunn.
Too bad she couldn’t just sleep with him. A few orgasms would probably help her depression, help her get over the heartbreak of her breakup with Alika Wolcott, brutally injured in her last case and now relocated permanently back to Kauai. Yes, sleeping with Dunn would be a terrible idea. Really bad. But she could still admire how he looked from behind. Even if that made her a hypocrite…
As if detecting her thoughts, Dunn winked at her as he opened the conference door. “After you.”
Sophie preceded Dunn into a well-appointed room with a long, gleaming conference table and whiteboard on one wall. A bank of windows framed the Honolulu skyline on the other wall. Two women sat at one end of the table—the washed-out, leathery blonde Sophie recognized as the client, and a striking Asian woman wearing a fitted sheath dress. Both stood to greet them as they entered.
“Sophie, meet Sharon Blumfield, the client whose interests we’re representing. And this is Dr. Helen Kinoshita.” Dunn made a little bow to the psychologist. “She’s the best in the shrink business.”
Dr. Kinoshita actually blushed. Sophie was relieved that she wasn’t the only woman working with Dunn that was susceptible to his charms.
“Pleased to meet you,” Sophie stepped forward and shook the client’s hand, smiling at Blumfield. “I am so glad we were able to get your children back to you. They look lovely. Are they doing all right?”
“They’re fine, thank you! Really, I can’t thank you enough.” Blumfield’s eyes filled. “My mother flew out and she’s with them at the hotel now.”
“They’re adjusting well,” Kinoshita said. “Considering they were woken up by two armed operatives.”
“That was the best possible extraction we could come up with,” Dunn said. They all sat around one end of the table as Sophie opened her laptop. “Something you may not know is that Ms. Ang recently joined us from the FBI. She’s very familiar with investigative techniques and has some unique tools to help us find answers regarding the women you are concerned are missing.”
“I do have some unique tools. But we always begin basic.” Sophie smiled at the women. “I’m going to type as we talk, and begin building a case file. Tell me the names of the missing women, and a brief physical description. Any details you can recall will be helpful.”
She built three separate files, one for each woman.
Mandy Jones, brunette, long brown hair, curvy build, glasses, age thirty-four, had three children, Odin, Freya, and Thor, with Jackson, and disappeared five years ago.
Jennifer Roberts, tall slim blonde, age thirty-five, had two children, Zeus and Hera, with Jackson, and disappeared four years ago.
Amy Fillmore: disappeared two years ago. Curvy redhead. Had three children, Horus, Isis, and Osiris, with Jackson.
“Interesting.” Dunn was taking notes on a yellow legal pad. “What’s the significance of the god names?”
“Jackson believes the children are reincarnated beings, and that giving them the names of gods captures some of the gods’ power.”
“Jackson doesn’t seem to have one certain physical type he’s attracted to,” Sophie observed.
“We’re chosen for him by his Council of Elders.” Blumfield looked down, working a pleat of fabric between her fingers. “We were nominated. Interviewed by the Elders. Inspected physically to make sure we were healthy and fertile.”
“What criteria were used to determine…” Sophie groped for a word. “Eligibility?”
“Well, as I said, health and fertility were factors.” Blumfield drew a breath, blew it out. Kinoshita patted her arm encouragingly. “Our duty was to bring forth reincarnated Elders, which his children are believed to be. Are you familiar with the Society of Light’s beliefs?”
“Just a little. I reviewed the website,” Sophie said.
“Jackson calls it enhanced reincarnation. By performing deeds for the Society, further levels of advancement can be achieved. When you return in the next life it’s to be in a better body, in a better position to do the work of the Society.” Blumfield pulled a tissue from the box on the table and dabbed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t believe I was so deep in it. It wasn’t until I saw how the elders took over my children, how they were brainwashing them and using them for slave labor, basically—that I realized what a lie I’d swallowed—and had to keep on swallowing.”
“Do you think the children’s mothers might have been promised some advanced ‘reincarnation position’ in return for dying for the cause?” Sophie made air quotes with her fingers. “Was anything like that ever proposed to you?”
“It’s possible. But I never heard anything like that. I wasn’t Jackson’s favorite, though. He spent more time with all of the other women than he did with me. He visited me strictly to get me pregnant.” Blumfield’s face twisted with old pain. “Not that
I minded. I wasn’t into him that way either, after the first time or two.”
“So with you gone, and these others gone—does he have a new woman?” Dunn asked.
“Two. Jessie Sparks is pregnant, and Petra Perkins is new. Not yet pregnant.”
Sophie felt revulsion rise up, an acid taste at the back of her throat. “Do you have any information on those two? And please tell us anything you can about the missing women. Anything about their families, where they came from—anything you can remember.”
Sophie steadily built the files as Blumfield responded to their questions and gentle prompting from Kinoshita. Finally, Blumfield seemed to hit a wall. “I think I’ve told you everything I can think of.”
Dunn fetched them all a tray of coffee and they took a break as Sophie finished typing up her notes.
“I have enough for us to try to find these women’s families, perhaps see what the custody situation would be for the children if we can get them out of the cult,” Sophie picked up her tea, gone cold—and Dunn pushed a fresh mug over to her, which she accepted gratefully.
“Sharon, I think we should start at the beginning,” Dunn said. “Help us understand how you were recruited to the cult in the first place. How it operates.”
Sophie shot Dunn a glance. His sensitivity was surprising, and their different styles complemented each other.
“Okay. I was in college, and didn’t have much direction—I come from a family with money, as you’re already aware.” Blumfield started her story in halting sentences, but as she got going, the words flowed more easily.
She’d been an aimless young woman attending UCLA and going to yoga classes on campus. Sandoval Jackson had come to town to do an advanced teaching seminar. Blumfield had attended and “fallen under his spell.”
“He was so much more than a yoga teacher. His very presence was both calming and energizing. He made me feel like I could do anything. Be anything. Like I had a special purpose, and I badly needed one.” She explained how her involvement with the Society was engineered in stages until she was living in the compound in Waipio, an idyllic setting that was presented on social media as the pinnacle of healthy, beautiful living out in nature. “It’s like the rules that guide the rest of the world are left at the door of the compound. Sandoval is…god there.” She shook her head. “I fought for the chance to be one of his consorts, as we were called. I was thrilled when I made it through all the examinations and evaluations to be his bedmate.”