The Agent's Proposition

by Stone, Lyn

  He wouldn’t have sent her alone, either, and Cameron was well aware of that now. Mercier had selected him as a tool for teaching Tess the ropes in the field. This assignment, while crucial, shouldn’t have proved as dangerous as it had. No one had counted on armed goons shadowing the hacker. Selim should have felt perfectly secure.

  Maybe whoever had hired him hadn’t trusted him. At any rate, the man in charge would probably get a little antsy if he knew Selim was running around unsupervised. That ramped up the urgency to get this job completed.

  “There. All done,” he said, allowing himself one last caress of Tess’s slender leg. “We need to get under way.”

  She still had that slumberous look in her eyes. A look he had put there. He felt guilty leaving her unsatisfied, but less guilty than he’d feel if he did what they both wanted right now. Business had to come first.

  “Get dressed. We’ll anchor somewhere out in the Mediterranean. No point going with the original plan now if we can get Selim to cooperate. We’ll just go to Nice and fly out once I get the info we need.”

  “You aren’t going to torture it out of him, are you?” she asked. “You know that’s not allowed.”

  “I don’t think I’ll need torture,” Cameron replied. “He’s weaker than I thought, a real crybaby. It won’t take much to break him.”

  “In his defense, he did try to save me,” Tess said, looking up at him with mascara-smudged eyes. “Let me talk to him first. I think I can turn him.”

  “Yeah, into a slavering idiot, no doubt,” Cameron said with an eye roll. “Okay, you can give it a shot. What we need is the name and location of his control. Get that and I’ll be happy.”

  “I’ll get it,” she said with a determined nod.

  “Sure you aren’t sweet on the boy?” Cameron asked as he closed up the first-aid kit and avoided her eyes. She was getting to him. He didn’t doubt the effect she’d have on Selim. “We can’t afford sympathy at this point.”

  “Get real. I’m not that soft.”

  Cameron would argue that, but he didn’t. “Okay, be ready when we anchor. Keep in mind we have to do whatever works. This is not a misdemeanor they were planning, and don’t assume we’ve stopped it by getting our hands on Selim. People could die if the threat’s accomplished, and Selim might not be the only one who can put it into motion.”

  “Duly noted.” She sounded miffed that he didn’t trust her. He did but needed to put some space and professional attitude between them right now.

  He left her then and went to ready the boat to head out from Saint-Tropez. They needed to get out of sight of land so Selim would feel totally isolated with his interrogators and realize he had no hope of escape.

  This was not Cameron’s favorite part of the job, but it was certainly the most critical in this case. For now, however, he would let himself simply enjoy piloting the Jezebel. He took his pleasures where he could, and the master cabin was not the appropriate place today.

  Tess washed her face, reapplied her makeup and did what she could to fix her hair. She put on a V-necked tank top, its appeal vastly improved by the push-up bra. She added a pair of drawstring pants that covered her skinned knees while baring her newly tanned midriff.

  She still felt sexy, even in her own clothes, and readily admitted to herself that she wasn’t dressing to wow Zahi Selim. Must be the heavy dose of lust involving Cameron and the aftermath of her empowering ruse as a wealthy playgirl. Her reflection smiled back at her. “All in the attitude,” she muttered to herself.

  She kept busy in the saloon, on her laptop, until Cameron dropped anchor and came below. He went directly to Selim’s computer. Tess hadn’t touched it since Cameron was the real expert.

  After a few minutes, he abandoned the effort to access any of the files. “Protected, just as I figured it would be,” he muttered. “We’ll need his password. Handle it. I have a program to work through it, but that could take hours. We need him to tell us.”

  “Okay. We just had a transmission from Mercier. The white-haired guy was Paul-Henri Junot, a mercenary, French, worked independently, no known affiliations. I should have gotten a photo of the other one, but you already had him in the water by the time I found my phone.”

  “He was just hired muscle, too. You ready to quiz Selim?”

  “Whenever you are.”

  “Have you ever done this before? For real, I mean, not just in training?” he asked.

  “First time for everything,” she replied. “Bring him on.”

  Cameron nodded and went to unlock the door to the forward cabin. Tess waited in the lounge area of the saloon.

  Selim kept a watchful eye on Cameron as they came in. He glanced at Tess, and she could sense, as well as see, his fear.

  “Sit down, Zee,” she said. “Would you like a drink?”

  Selim shook his head, sat down on the lounge, where she indicated, and folded his arms over his chest, his chin nearly touching it.

  “As you might have guessed from Cochran’s questions earlier, I’m with the American government, Zee,” Tess revealed. “And we know you are the one who threatened to shut down the power grid. This is considered a terrorist act.”

  “I am no terrorist!” Selim exclaimed.

  Tess tried to catch his eye. “You have stated you will cut off the power in a large portion of my country unless we bow to extortion. Perhaps whoever hired you to make these threats against us is the terrorist.”

  “I am not a terrorist, and I don’t know anyone who is,” Selim declared. His movements became fidgety, and he refused to meet her eyes. “I would never hurt anyone or destroy anything.”

  She picked up on his mounting uncertainty and the gist of his actual thoughts. Should he reveal everything, or should he call the bluff? Was it a bluff? How much did they actually have on him?

  Tess sighed. “You threatened to do just that. We have the proof, Zahi. It will go much better for you if you cooperate and give us the name.”

  Selim sniffed and stared at his feet.

  She tried again. “Perhaps you didn’t realize the harm this could cause when you agreed to do it, the disruption to our economy and the lives that would be lost,” she said calmly.

  Selim simply shrugged, but obviously her words troubled him.

  Tess persisted. There was good in this young man; she knew it and pressed to reveal it. “Do you realize that nuclear reactors would stop functioning? Supplies for drinking water are controlled by electric pumps. Air travel depends on controllers having power to direct the flights. Rail service would stop. Last time the power failed, there were so many fires. People died, residents and firefighters. And think of the sick in outlying areas whose ability to breathe is dependent on the electric power available. Generators fail, Selim. They’re not always reliable. What about the little babies on oxygen support in hospitals and clinics? They would be vulnerable.”

  “I have nothing to say to you,” Selim mumbled, but he was weakening.

  “You tried to save my life back at the villa, Zee,” she reminded him. “I don’t believe you’re bad at heart. I will try to save your life if you help us get the one responsible for planning this.”

  “Save my life?” Selim jumped up from the lounge, pounded his chest with his fist and stuck out his chin in defiance. “I have harmed no one! Not one person. Do you think I am stupid because you were able to trick me? Your government will never give me a death sentence for posting a few e-mail messages that have come to nothing!”

  Cameron grabbed him. “You’re absolutely right, but I will. If you won’t talk, you’re worth nothing.” He half carried, half dragged Selim to the railing and pushed him over, grabbing his ankles as he fell.

  Chapter 10

  Selim’s shrill scream strangled on a sob.

  “A name or a swim?” Cameron shouted down to him. “It’s forty miles to shore.”

  “Help! Tessa!” Selim yelled.

  She peered over the rail and shot Cameron a look of exasperation. “Pull
him up, Cochran! You can’t do this! It’s against the Geneva convention and every other directive regarding prisoners!”

  “I’m not a soldier, not even one of your agents. I haven’t accepted one red cent or signed anything from the government for this operation.”

  Tess stamped her foot and shook her fist at him. “Bring him aboard, Cochran! That’s an order!”

  Instead, Cameron let go of one foot.

  Selim screamed again. This time a name.

  “What did he say?” Cameron asked. “Did you get that?”

  Tess shook her head and sighed. “Cameron, bring him back up. He’ll talk now.”

  Cameron smiled and managed to grasp Selim’s flailing foot. “Okay, but this is his last chance.” He hauled him in. “You hear me, Selim? Last chance.”

  Disheveled and gasping for breath, Selim collapsed on the deck. He looked up in abject terror. “He will kill me if I tell.”

  “I will kill you if you don’t,” Cameron assured him. “Get up and go back inside. I want a name. I want a location. And I want your password. You have three minutes after you sit down to tell me, or we’re coming back out here, and I swear I’ll throw you in, along with a bucket of chum to attract the sharks.”

  Selim was nodding rapidly as he scrambled to his feet and scurried back down to the relative safety of the saloon. Tess wondered how Selim’s lawyers would spin this. How she would spin it when she did her report.

  Cameron pushed Selim onto the lounge and stood over him, stance wide and hands on his hips. “Let’s be real clear about this. We are not on American turf, and I don’t work for the government. I’m just a pissed-off private citizen along for the ride, so don’t count on me following any rules of conduct with regard to your capture. Give us the information and do it now.”

  Selim swallowed hard and nodded.

  Tess stood by, totally noncommittal. Cochran was getting results; she had to give him that. She waited for him to stand back, then took a seat next to Selim.

  She had sensed before that he felt most troubled by his actions causing people to die, so she concentrated on that.

  “Now you listen to me,” she ordered. “I’m telling you that what you were contracted to do will be deadly for a lot of people, Zahi. There are over two million men, women and children on power-dependent machines that only last a few hours at most without recharging.”

  “Two million?” Selim whispered, shaking his head.

  Tess nodded. “Yes. They would be at risk when their oxygen-producing machines have the power cut. Those who are fully encased in iron lungs depend on power to keep them alive. Generators fail all the time. Batteries die after a few hours’ use. And you would be personally responsible for all those people dying if you carried out your threat or allowed the man who hired you to do it. You don’t want that on your conscience, do you? How would you live with yourself?”

  Selim’s confusion was clearing, his terror diminishing. His dark eyes sought hers. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and Tess knew they weren’t entirely a result of fear for himself. He did have a heart. Youth, thoughtlessness and greed had blinded him, but now he had begun to understand that.

  “So give us the information we need to stop this and prevent it from happening. Please,” she added.

  Selim looked at Cameron, since he posed the biggest threat. “We met only once, face-to-face, two years ago in London. Of course, he would not give me his real name, but I discovered it.”

  “Let me guess,” Cameron said. “You sneaked a photo of him and hacked into our driver’s license database.”

  Selim shrugged one shoulder, an admission. “He is Jason Bulgar. I suspected his plan had to do with more than the money, that perhaps he had worked for the Department of Energy, because he knew so much about it. He had advertised for a computer expert. I was pretty good. I needed the money, so I contacted him.”

  “Were there others who answered?” Tess asked.

  “Yes, but he said he chose me because I was the best,” said Selim. “I confessed to him I could hack into any system when he hinted that was what he needed done.”

  Cameron huffed. “I don’t think we can count on the supposition that you were the only one he hired. There might be others, whom he has kept in reserve and could call on.”

  Selim knitted his brows. “I don’t think so. He would have used them later instead of looking me up, since I had been caught before, don’t you think? Maybe he trusted me because I did not try to involve him then.”

  “Trusted you? Did he know that you knew his real name?” quizzed Tess.

  Selim shook his head. “No. He still does not know that.”

  “How much did he pay you this time?” Cameron asked.

  “He gave me only five thousand in advance for expenses and promised me ten percent of the take when your government paid,” Selim revealed. “I did everything he asked the last time, so he said he trusted me.”

  “I knew it had to be an insider!” Cameron exclaimed, pounding his palm with his fist. “Where is he now?”

  “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t, and I didn’t try to find out.” Selim shook his head and cast a worried glance up at Cameron. “He contacted me through e-mail this time. I found out only this past week that he had those two men following me.”

  “Did he say why?” Tess asked.

  “For my protection,” Selim said. “I told him I would send the messages to the Department of Energy for him as he asked. If the responses were negative and they wouldn’t agree to pay, I would shut down the grid when he ordered me to do it.”

  “How would you have gained access?” Tess asked.

  “Simple enough, really. Power-generating and power-distributing companies are connected through the Internet, and the control software they run is available if you know how to get it,” Selim explained.

  “Are you the one who hacked into the system last time?” asked Cameron.

  Selim sighed, sniffed and sat back in defeat. “No, it was not necessary. He had the codes and passwords to get into the programs controlling the grid. All he wanted was for me to send the messages.”

  “They change those codes regularly,” Cameron said. “He has to be the one who wrote the program to do it, or he’s in control of whoever did. That’s the only way. Maybe before he left, he hid a code that transmits to him whenever they change them.”

  “Then why doesn’t he do the shutdown himself if he’s that savvy?” Tess asked. “Have you thought about that, Zee? Did you consider that maybe you were hired to be the fall guy?”

  “The what?” Selim asked, wide-eyed.

  “The scapegoat,” Cameron said. “The one who would be held responsible. Once you did what he wanted, he would have arranged to get rid of you, maybe a suicide setup with a note on your computer, confessing everything. You wouldn’t be allowed to live or be captured again.”

  “But I did nothing to implicate anyone else the last time!” Selim argued. “He wouldn’t have me killed!”

  “You didn’t admit to an accomplice then, because there was no proof of your involvement, and you knew they would have to let you go. This time he had you guarded so you wouldn’t be caught alive again, as you were in London. Even if he thought you couldn’t give his name, you have seen him and would be able to identify him.”

  Selim leaned forward and buried his face in his hands.

  “I need to access your computer. What’s your password?” Cameron prodded.

  “Moneyforme,” Selim answered readily. “I have been so stupid! I can’t believe how stupid.”

  Tess shot Cameron a warning look to ease up as she spoke to Selim. “But you have the chance now to fix this, Zahi. You can save all those people and put Bulgar out of commission. Will you help?”

  Selim uncovered his face and took a deep breath. “Any way that I can. What would you have me do?”

  “See if we can track his e-mails to the source and find out where he is. We could go through the NSA and have it done, but speed is ess
ential. Can you do it?” Cameron asked.

  Selim shrugged. “Of course. Child’s play.”

  “Do it then.” Cameron gave him the laptop brought from the villa. As he did so, he said to Tess, “Call in the name. Get what they have on Bulgar. They will have checked all present and former employees first thing, so it should be compiled already.”

  Selim logged on as Cameron observed. “Don’t even think about trying to warn him,” Cameron said, his tone deadly.

  “Why would I do that?” Selim asked. “If I help you, then you will help me. Is that right? You will promise?”

  Tess answered. “I’ll still have to arrest you for conspiracy, Zee, but I’ll certainly ask for leniency and do whatever I can. You do understand that I can’t just let you go?”

  Selim considered that for a moment, and Tess could feel his apprehension and deep disappointment that his only hope of freedom and any kind of future had been dashed. She could also sense his determination to do the right thing in spite of that. Finally he nodded acceptance.

  She smiled encouragement and gestured toward the computer. “I knew you’d do the right thing, Zee. Go ahead.”

  While Tess called Control and gave Bulgar’s name and her request for information, Selim went to work, Cameron watching his every move. No trust there, but Selim had slipped out of the noose before. Maybe she should remember that and not count too heavily on her limited psychic ability sensing remorse. She still might be projecting what she wanted to sense from him, instead of picking up what he was really feeling.

  Tess wondered how long she would be doing these sorts of missions before she gained confidence in her extrasensory perception. Would she ever be able to depend on it?

  Very shortly, word came back on Bulgar’s identity. “He was downsized three years ago,” she told Cameron. “Took it hard but issued no threats that were recorded. He was eliminated as a suspect.”

  “Why?”