by Marja McGraw
Neither Pete nor Layne commented. Instead, they let me work things through in my mind.
“That only leaves Griz and Scott.” I looked deeply into Layne’s eyes. “And you.”
Layne raised his eyebrows and stared back at me. “Okay, Sandi, you can rule me out. I’m a government agent. I’m here to keep the government running, not take it down.”
“Well, if it’s not you or Trap, and I don’t believe it’s Griz or Scott or the boys, who else is there?”
Layne rubbed his lips together. “There’s always the unknown, and that’s what we’ve got. We don’t know who the head of this operation is, so we don’t know who he might have a link to. That’s what we’ve got to figure out.”
“Easier said than done,” Pete said. “I’m going to call Stan and ask him to do more research on everyone here. We’ve got to find the link.”
“Good idea,” I said. “At this point I think it’s better to have someone on the outside do the research. That way no one here will know what’s going on.”
“Call him,” Layne said. “I’ve already got some of our people on it, but your man may come at it from a different angle. I never thought I’d say this, but I think we’re too close to the situation to see the whole picture.”
I laughed. “Well, I’m surprised. A government agent trusting an outsider? That must be a first.”
“Not at all. We count on outsiders all the time. Like it or not, I know we can’t think of everything, and sometimes outsiders have contacts that we’d never think of on a good day, much less in the middle of this mess.”
I had one more idea. “There’s one other person that we’re not considering. Greta’s involved. We don’t know to what extent. The geeks are doing a deep background check on her.” I didn’t want to take her name off the list. She could know a lot more than we suspected.
Layne looked a little embarrassed when he said, “And don’t forget your aunt. Could it be a little too coincidental that she arrived when she did?”
This time I laughed heartily. “My aunt? Get real. Her being here is the only real coincidence in all of this.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I called.
Trap walked in with Aunt Martha and Griz following.
My aunt smiled uncertainly. “Is something funny going on? I heard you laughing.”
“Oh, Aunt Martha, would you answer a question for me?”
“Probably. What is it?”
“Are you a spy?”
Chapter Forty
“Am I a spy? Only if you want to count looking over the shoulders of wayward teenagers, especially during tests. Why would you ask me something like that?”
“Nevermind. It’s not important.”
“Have you ever heard of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold?” Trap asked. “The closest your aunt ever came to being a spy would have been when she came in because it was snowing outside – in Chicago.”
He looked surprised.
“Well, now. Imagine that. I just made a joke.”
My aunt laughed. “And it was a good one, Andrew.”
I thumped my forehead with the palm of my hand.
Trap raised his eyebrows. “It wasn’t funny?”
“It’s not that, and yes, it was funny. Something has been just out of reach in my mind. You know, like when something is right on the tip of your tongue and you can’t think of what you want to say.”
Pete rolled his eyes at me. “Okay, get on with it. You finally put your finger on something?”
“I did. When the boys received those threatening calls, the caller didn’t have a lisp. Every other time he spoke to them, he did. This was a different caller, but with the voice changer, the boys didn’t realize it was a new player. We were so intent on what he was saying, that it didn’t strike any of us that he wasn’t lisping.”
Layne threw his arm over my shoulders. “And this is the perfect example of why I enjoy working with outsiders. I should have picked up on that and I didn’t. You did.”
He stepped away and I reached back, over my shoulder, and patted myself on the back. I had my moments, and this was one of them.
My cell phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket.
“If that’s Stan,” Pete said, “I want to talk with him.”
I glanced it caller ID and sighed. “It’s not Stan. It’s my mother.”
Everyone left the room except Aunt Martha.
“Hello, Mom. What’s up?” I tried to sound innocent of any wrongdoing. My mother has a suspicious nature.
“Where’s my sister?” she asked. “She was supposed to be here yesterday, and we haven’t seen hide nor hair of her.”
“She’s still visiting with me.”
“I called your office and Stan wouldn’t tell me anything.” I could see her eyes narrowing in my mind. “What are you up to? He said you and Martha went out of town, but that’s all he’s say.”
Think fast, I thought.
Aunt Martha tugged on my sleeve. “Let me talk to her.”
I held my index finger to my lips, shushing her.
“We’re visiting a former student of hers,” I said.
“And who would that be?”
“Andrew Trapper.”
There was a moment of complete silence.
“The Andrew Trapper? The billionaire?”
“Well, yes. He lives out of town and – “
My aunt grabbed the cell phone out of my hand.
“Olivia, do not give my niece the third degree. If you have questions, you can ask me.”
Uh oh. She’d called my mother Olivia instead of Livvie. There was the use of a given name again, the thing I dreaded.
“Don’t tell her anything,” I whispered.
She nodded and listened to my mother.
“I can’t answer that,” she said.
She was quiet while my mother spoke again.
“I can’t answer that, either. Don’t ask me anymore questions. We’ll talk when I arrive in Arizona to visit.”
She was quiet again.
“Listen, Little Miss Prissy, don’t try to trick me into telling you things you don’t need to know. I’m the older sister, and you’d do well not to forget that!”
Eek! The old Aunt Martha was making a return appearance.
I could hear my mother’s deep intake of breath even though the phone wasn’t to my ear. I didn’t want to hear the rest of their conversation so I left the room. There are some things I’m better off not knowing or hearing.
Griz was waiting outside the door. “What’s going on in there?”
We could hear my aunt speaking loudly.
“You don’t want to know.” I walked past him and headed for the Safe Room.
Trap and Griz were the only ones upstairs, so I assumed everyone else must be downstairs.
Pete was standing in the downstairs kitchen, opening a bottle of beer, and talking on his cell phone.
“Yes, Stan, that’s what I said. You’re now doing a favor for the government.”
My mind was busy again. I could practically see Stanley standing up and saluting. It would make him feel so good to know his government needed him.
Layne sat on the couch, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his fisted hands holding up his chin, and looking deep in thought.
“I had an idea,” I said.
He jumped. He’d been so deep in thought that he hadn’t even noticed me.
“Sorry?”
“I said I’ve had an idea.”
“What’s that?”
“I came up with a plan. We give each individual a piece of phony information that The General, or whoever, would want to know. Something that might bring him out of hiding, and something that would define who the leaker is.”
“Great minds…,” Layne said. “I was just thinking the same thing. We’ll need to go upstairs and figure out what we want them to know.”
“Nope.”
“No? Why not?”
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“You forget. The security cameras upstairs also have sound. We need to go for a long walk and talk where we can’t be heard. We also need to think about what we might have said that could be overheard. Anyone could walk into the security room and check it out. Scott takes breaks every once in a while. Sometimes Griz spells him, too.”
“Once again, you reminded me of why outsiders are good sources.” Layne smiled at me. “As soon as Pete’s off the phone, we’ll find an excuse to go outside.”
“How do you know Pete’s not the leak?” I smiled at him.
“You two are Johnny-come-latelies.”
“True.”
While we waited for Pete to get off the phone, I walked over and talked to the geeks.
“Have you found anything on Greta yet?” I asked.
Ryan turned around and glanced at me before turning his gaze on Layne and Pete. “You remind me of my mother. You’re a take-charge kinda woman.” He blinked before quickly adding, “But you’re a lot younger than her.”
“I would hope so,” I said. “Did you find anything?”
“As a matter of fact, I did. Greta Barlow is her married name. She’s divorced and her ex-husband now lives in New York. Her maiden name is Thomas. She didn’t have any brothers or sisters. In fact, her father is her only living relative. His name is…” He stopped and glanced at some notes. “…Martin Thomas.”
I glanced down when I felt something on my leg. Clem was licking my jeans. Oh, good grief. Bubba was also hanging out by the boys, and he grinned at me.
I shook my leg gently, pushing Clem away.
Ryan continued. “Mason researched the father, and he’s disappeared. We found a house he lived in, but it seems it’s been abandoned. He’s been out of sight for about two years.”
Things were becoming interesting.
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Yeah. It seems that Gerard Compton didn’t exist until about two years ago. There’s no history on him.”
“Well, we know he can’t be Greta’s father because he’s too young. I think. I’d better ask Pete about The General’s age.”
Ethan turned around. “It looks like, other than Greta, they’ve done their best to stay under the grid.” He grinned. “But we have our ways. We’ll turn up more. Just give us a little time.”
“We don’t have much time, bro,” Jason said. “I think The General will carry through on his threat.”
“You’ll be safe here.” I tried to reassure him. “And that reminds me. None of you noticed that the caller didn’t lisp?”
Their collective faces registered surprise.
Ryan’s eyes were big. “I guess he scared us so bad that we didn’t think about it.”
I nodded. “I’ll go talk to Pete about The General’s age range.”
Ethan laughed derisively. “We think being called Danger is really dumb, but The General is just as bad. Who does he think he is?”
I didn’t respond, just shaking my head.
Pete stood in the kitchen, drinking his beer and biting his lip.
“What did Stanley say?” I asked.
Although there didn’t appear to be cameras in the Safe Room, we spoke softly.
“He’s on it. He’ll find everything he can on the people here and call me back. I told him we needed whatever he could find ASAP.”
“Good. Layne and I have a plan.” I filled him in on giving everyone some little tidbit that The General would want to know.
“I’m assuming you mean something he’d have to act on right away.”
“Certainly. Everyone will have a different piece of information, and that way we’ll know who the leak is.”
Layne stood and stretched, calling across the room. “Hey, Pete. Let’s take Sandi and go for a walk to get some fresh air. We can tell her more about what happened last night. Trap wants me to change the location of the helipad. You can help me figure that one out.”
I donned my most enthusiastic face.
Scott popped his head around the doorway to the security room. “Be careful out there.”
Layne nodded. “Will do.”
We walked through the tunnel without speaking, and headed for the helicopter pad.
“Don’t turn around,” Layne said, “but we’re being followed.”
It took all my willpower not to look.
“By who?” Pete asked.
“Not who, but what. There’s a drone behind us.”
“Ours or theirs? I asked.
Chapter Forty-one
“I don’t know whose drone it is. Probably ours. Scott is mostly likely watching our backs.”
We walked slowly and found ourselves pointing our index fingers in different directions, trying to look like we were figuring out the best place for a new helipad. In actuality, we talked about the various stories we were going to give everyone to draw out The General, or whoever was behind Trap’s kidnapping and the attempted government blackmail – the cyber threat.
“I think Greta’s father may be involved,” I said, stopping and sitting on the helipad. “He’s her only living relative, and he went off the radar a couple of years ago. It seems that this plan to take down the electrical grid may have been in the planning stages for quite a while. And the geeks couldn’t find any past for Compton. Either he’s erased his past or he’s using an alias.”
Layne sat down next to me. “As far as we can tell, you’re right. The planning has been going on for a long time.”
“How did you even know something was going on?” I asked.
“No matter how careful people are, word always gets out. We have a source who approached us about the possibility of the blackmail plan.”
“Do you think they’d go through with their plan if the government doesn’t pay them off?” Pete asked.
“Yeah, if they can get Trap back. He’s the one person who can help them, or he can stop them. Trap is a brilliant man. He came up with a process to take down the electrical grid that was so easy it scared him. It was so simple that no one else ever thought about it, but they will in time. Now he’s come up with a process to prevent it from happening. I can’t even imagine how his brain works.”
“He seems so down-to-earth,” I said, “even if he’s a bit stuffy. I don’t understand his recluse attitude though. He’s got enough money to buy anything he wants, and I’m sure there are plenty of people who would genuinely enjoy his company – like my aunt. She adores him.”
“Think about Howard Hughes. He was a recluse, and an eccentric. Money sometimes does that to people,” Pete said.
“Yeah, I guess too many people probably want something from him. I can imagine it’s overwhelming. However, if anyone can bring him out of his shell, it’ll be my aunt.”
Layne frowned. “I don’t think he wants out. He may keep your aunt as a friend, but she’ll never get him out into the world. Trust me.”
We finally came up with our stories and headed back to the tunnel.
Griz was in the Safe Room and my aunt was upstairs, so the first thing I did was go upstairs to talk to her.
“I suppose you want to know about your mother’s call,” she said.
“Not at all. Actually, I’d rather not know what the two of you talked about. I’m here for a different reason.”
She was busily preparing a pork roast to go in a crock pot. It seemed that Trap had plenty of food for every occasion.
“We’re having pulled pork sandwiches for dinner,” she explained.
“Sounds good.” I stood close to her and spoke very softly. “Okay, here’s the deal. No matter what you hear, you’re not to correct anyone. We have a plan to find out who the leak is. Without going into detail, everyone will hear a different… I guess you’d call it a secret, or story. We’ll see whose information reaches the ears of The General.”
“So don’t correct anyone. Do you mean the secrets aren’t true?”
“Exactly. Can I count on your cooperation?”
“I just spoke to yo
ur mother a little while ago and didn’t give away even one detail of what’s going on here, although I did mention I’d met a man. So, yes, I can keep a secret.”
I laughed. “Except when it involves a man.”
She grinned sheepishly. “I have to have some fun with my sister. It stopped her from asking questions. I told her I wouldn’t discuss this man until I arrived in Arizona. Period, end of story.”
I left her side and found Trap in his office, where I told him we knew where the compounds were now, which was a lie. Of course I didn’t suspect him, but almost everyone was included in our scheme.
“Don’t tell anyone what I’ve told you,” I said.
He smiled. “I wouldn’t dream of it. I wouldn’t care to be kidnapped again. Just tell Layne to do his job and bring these people in.”
Returning to the Safe Room, I found Griz and Pete talking. Pete was telling him we’d just about figured out who The General’s boss was, but he didn’t want to pass on the name until he was sure. He told Griz to keep the information to himself.
Griz nodded and excused himself so he could give Scott a break. I had a feeling that he knew exactly what we were doing. The expression on his face spoke volumes.
Layne was talking to Ryan. I wasn’t sure which story he gave him, and I didn’t want to appear to be eavesdropping. I’d ask Layne about it later.
I approached Mason and asked him if they’d found any more information about Greta. He said they hadn’t.
“By the way,” I said, quietly, “one of the people they arrested last night is opening up and spilling his guts. He says he knows who the real head of this group is but he won’t give them a name or location until they make a deal with him.”
“Interesting,” Mason said. “I’m amazed that they actually found someone who’s willing to talk.”
“Keep it to yourself,” I said. “No one is supposed to know.”
More than likely, he figured when I had information I could be quite the gossip.
I glanced up and saw Jason in the kitchen. No one else was around him. He appeared to be fetching soft drinks for himself and his friends.