Expectation (Ghost Targets, #2)

by Pogue, Aaron

  He frowned. Then he took a step away, but he didn't break eye contact. "I trust you, Katie." He hesitated and deflated a little. When he went on, his voice was weaker. "I trust you, Katie, but I'm in with the wolves now. It's not easy."

  "It's okay," Katie said. She glanced over her shoulder toward Meg, halfway across the sprawling lab, and then back to her boss. "It'll be okay, sir. You can trust me."

  His lips tightened in a smile, then he slipped through the door and disappeared. Katie stared at the closed door for a moment, then shook her head and turned back to Meg. "Have you got it?" Meg nodded, and Katie jogged across the room toward her, but when she got there the desktop was blank. Katie fought a smile. "There's no file," she said.

  Meg shook her head, tears springing to her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have lied, but I thought you were going to tell him...."

  "I understand," Katie said. She put her hands on her hips and considered the other woman for a moment, measuring. "How much do you know?"

  "More than I should," Meg said. "Same as you." There was a hint of ferociousness in her voice at that last, and Katie unconsciously fell back a step. Meg said, "I don't know how you—oh. Theresa told you." Katie nodded, and Meg shook her head. "That woman doesn't get it."

  "She does," Katie said, then reached out and pushed Meg's chin up so they could meet eyes. "And I do, too. I wasn't going to tell Agent Reed. I didn't. Your secret is safe."

  Meg spat the word out. "Safe." She shook her head. "Too many people know, Katie. Too many. The lieutenant knows. I think you guessed that. Ellie never should have known, but he told her. Theresa...."

  "Ellie and Barnes were having an affair," Katie said, and Meg only nodded absently. "We think that might have driven her to attack him. He tried to end their relationship, and if Ellie was in love—"

  Meg cut her off with a snort. "She didn't love him," she said. "No more than he loved her. It was just sex." The girl said "sex" like it was a dirty word, but there was something wistful in her eyes. She clutched her hands to her heart. "Eric tried to end it? I didn't know."

  "That was the day before..." Katie trailed off, considering Meg out of the corner of her eye, but the girl wasn't listening. Her eyes were on something far away. Katie caught her attention with a hand on her shoulder, and said with a gentle voice, "You had a relationship with him too?"

  Meg looked up at her with wide eyes, and after a moment nodded mutely. Katie sighed. "What is it about that man?"

  Meg's jaw dropped. "Are you...are you serious? He's Eric Barnes. I've had a crush on him since high school." She shook her head. "But it's not even that. It's this place." She looked around, at the blank walls and the picturesque, artificial windows overhead. "It's unreal. After a while, all the privacy, all the secrecy, it gets into your head." Her eyes drifted down to her feet, but she coughed out a laugh. "It's the weirdest feeling. It's like being drunk. But...just, knowing that no one can see you, no one can hear you. Knowing that it's really, truly secret. You can't imagine the feeling."

  Katie bit her tongue against the answer that sprang to mind. She said, "So you...you slept with him?"

  Meg looked up sharply and then away as the blush rose again. "Umm. No." She probably didn't realize how much regret Katie could hear in her voice. "We almost did," she said. "A long time ago. It was this place. But...we couldn't. We both knew we couldn't. It would have interfered with our work, you know, and Eric's only real love was his work."

  "But his work is—"

  "It's not a lie, Miss Pratt. If you think it is, then you don't understand. Eric didn't just hide out in here and...and...read and play games. He was working. Always working. That mind..." Her eyes drifted away from Katie's toward the bed in the back corner. She sighed. "He's a genius."

  "And he didn't choose you." Katie put just enough sting in her voice to get the point across, and Meg turned back to her with narrowed eyes.

  "It's nothing like that," she said. "He loved me, and I loved him. We were friends. That...the other thing, that was a long time ago, like I told you." Her breath caught, and she forced out a long breath. "Ellie was just a distraction. An escape. There was never anything real there."

  Katie frowned. "Then you don't believe she attacked him?"

  Meg's eyes got wide. "Who said anything about an attack?"

  "That's why we're here," Katie said. "We suspect someone caused Eric's current condition—"

  "You do? But how?"

  "With a chemical synthesized at one of these workstations. We haven't had a chance to inspect the body yet, but when we do we expect to find—"

  Meg shook her head, horror in her eyes. "You...no. It doesn't work like that. You can't just make up a magical coma drug."

  "But surely with all the data available on Eric Barnes, and the kind of processing power you have here—"

  Meg shook her head, definite. "Nope. That's not how these machines work. It's all driven by Hippocrates. It exists to find general solutions, not to make designer drugs. That's an entirely different class of equipment."

  Katie tucked her hair behind her ear, eyes fixed on one of the benches. "Then how did she...." Her eyes narrowed, and then she hit Meg with a penetrating gaze. "So if you didn't know we suspected an attack, what did you think we were talking about?"

  "I...well, Ellie," Meg said. "Right?" Katie looked blank and Meg gasped at her. "You mean...you know about the attack, but you don't know what Ellie was up to?"

  Katie took a step back. "I told you, we know all about the affair."

  Meg shook her head. "No. No. They weren't just lovers, Katie. But you're right. If you think he was attacked, it must have been Ellie who did it. Eric and Ellie were...conspirators. Right? They had a plan." Her voice fell to a whisper on that last word and she looked around anxiously, but the two women were alone in the lab.

  Katie shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry, Meg, you're going to have to make it plainer than that. I don't understand what you're getting at."

  "She was a very compelling woman," Meg said, almost offhand. "Whatever Ellie wanted, Ellie got. She had a power over people." She sighed. "Even Eric. And what Ellie wanted most was a lot of money." She met Katie's eyes at last. "They were going to do it together. He never would have done it, but that woman...."

  "But what was she going to do?" Katie asked.

  "She was going to sell Gevia," Meg said. "State secrets. It's treason, Katie, but that didn't stop her. If she lets it get out, no one else can make it work like we do. Do you understand? She'll get rich, and she'll disappear completely, and then the Gevia project will end."

  It was worse than the girl knew. Ellie had already disappeared completely, and she had a full day's lead on them. Given this new information, the hunt for Ellie Cohn had just grown a lot more important. Without a hint of patience in her voice, Katie growled into her headset, "Martin, connect me to Reed, now."

  11. The Real Crime

  Katie got no answer, and after a moment she pounded her fist on the nearby lab table. "Dammit, Martin, answer me!"

  Meg had ignored the first comment, but at the second her eyes went wide and she said, "Martin? Martin Door? He's not here either, Agent Pratt!" Her eyes went to the disabled headset still on Katie's ear, and she chuckled. "Oh. You're talking to your assistant. You know those don't work in here, right? It's easy to forget. My first few weeks—"

  Katie ignored her. She said more sharply, "Martin, I'm not playing here. Connect me to Reed."

  Meg tilted her head, curious at Katie's antics, but Katie's attention was all on her headset and the exasperated sigh that suddenly played in her ear. Martin grumbled, "I'm not a secretary, Katie, and believe it or not, you are not the single most important thing going on in my life. You can't just assume I'm listening in on you wherever you are, whatever you're doing—"

  "Shut up," Katie said, and Meg blinked in surprise. Katie said, "We've got trouble with Ellie Cohn."

  "I know," Martin said, a bit sheepish. "I...I was listening."

&nbs
p; Katie allowed herself a smile, but it evaporated quickly. She said seriously, "Ellie's on the lam, and she's dangerous. Put me through to Reed. He's in the administrative building."

  "I can't do that," Martin said. "And I wouldn't if I could, because I suspect you just want to fill him in. This is highly sensitive information, Katie."

  At the same time, Meg spoke up. "I don't know if you're messing with me, or if you're just crazy, but it's not funny." Katie tried to wave her quiet, but the girl's voice grew frantic. "It's not funny, Katie! Everything keeps getting worse! And I thought maybe you could understand, but no! I can't take it."

  "Wow," Martin said flatly. "How do you put up with that?"

  "She's been through a lot," Katie said, quietly chastising, but Meg heard her and broke into a wail. Martin grunted.

  A moment later a voice spoke from the loudspeaker on the wall. "Meg Ginney, you have an urgent message waiting at the administrative building. Please report to the administrative building immediately." Meg's eyes shot to the speaker, and then she drew a ragged breath, visibly taking control of herself. When she was done she rounded on Katie, who was waiting patiently.

  "Well?" Meg said, demanding. "Come on. This is a restricted area. I can't just leave you here alone."

  Martin said immediately, "Offer to wait in the lobby. She can lock you out of the lab that way."

  Katie followed his suggestion, and Meg met it with a frown, but at the same time the message repeated over the speaker, and she threw her hands up in agitation. "Fine. Whatever."

  As soon as they stepped into the lobby, the lab door fell closed with the loud snap of locks engaging. Meg used the keys on her chain to throw the three deadbolts, though, before she was satisfied. She pointed to the low couch against the wall. "That's more comfortable than it looks. I'll be back in a sec."

  She didn't tarry beyond that. When she was out the door, Martin said with clear satisfaction, "Good. Glad that's sorted."

  "You're playing games, Martin," Katie said, irritated. "I'm surprised you're not more concerned about this."

  "Oh, I couldn't be more concerned," he said seriously. "I've had six different diagnostics running since the moment she mentioned what Miss Cohn was up to. But this is a matter we need to handle. We can't turn it over to the army or even Ghost Targets."

  "That's not how it works," Katie said. "I am Ghost Targets. You and I are not a team, Martin."

  "And yet you called my name." He said the words offhand, but they stopped Katie short. She stood with her jaw open, unable to respond, and after a moment Martin said, "Ah, good. I've got something. That woman is good—really good—but I found something that should make Reed's TMS analysis a little faster."

  "You know about that?" Katie said. "Have you been listening in on us all day?"

  "Heh, no. No. The FBI analysts tend to make big ripples when they start poking around in the database. It's hard to miss."

  "You're really not sounding like one of the good guys, Martin. I know you've been burned in the past—I was there—but you have to learn to trust Reed because I can't do this stuff by myself. If you keep locking him out—"

  "Not at all," Martin said. "I get it. I shared that partial voiceprint of Ellie with Reed and Dimms both the moment I got it. I'll do the same with anything else my searches turn up. As a matter of fact, Reed is charging back to the lab to tell you all about that one right now. I'd say he feels in full control."

  He took a deep breath and released it as a sigh. "I just need you to keep your promise. I'll do everything I can to support your manhunt, and that should be enough to keep things moving. Don't tell Reed about your new motive, though. Hell, just let him believe she's selling the chemical formulas. Even without the secret, that will still get plenty of priority."

  "We have to find her, Martin—"

  "You're right about that," he snapped. "You need to find her, or all of our precautions are a waste of time. Figure out where she is, and do it quick."

  Katie frowned. "Why the sudden urgency?"

  "Because she's in the database," he said. "She's like a mini-Ghoster. She may not have all the same access rights, but that woman knows how to work the system, and she's going to find out you're after her. There's no way to keep something like that secret. She's already so well hidden that I can't find her. Once she finds out she's an active suspect...."

  "I get it," Katie said. She caught a glimpse of Reed through the glass doors, rushing toward the lab, and knew her time was short. "Here's what I need you to do—"

  Martin chuckled. "I'm not a database service, Katie. You can't just ask me to help—"

  "This is your secret," Katie said, "and you're imposing restrictions that limit my team's usefulness, so I need you to offset that. You're going to find out what Ellie is really up to. See who she's been in contact with, off the record. Check international calls, or find out if there's other ghosts who've been in touch with her. That would be a big red flag. But right now we're acting entirely on Meg's word, and that's just not enough. Get Hathor to talk."

  "I don't know," Martin said. "It won't be easy."

  "I know. I know. That's why I need you to do it. Reed and I can handle the manhunt, but you're uniquely qualified to figure out what Ellie's got in the works. Once we know that, we can slam this thing shut."

  "I'll do what I can."

  "You can do it, Martin. I know you can." Reed was at the outer door. She sighed. "Reed's here. I suppose that's it, huh?" The silence she got was answer enough.

  When Reed burst in, he found her still standing just inside the lobby, her back to the lab door. He stopped short, considering her, and said, "What's going on?"

  "Nothing," she said. "Meg got called away. What was your urgent message?"

  "Call from Washington," he said, and immediately waved it away. "Didn't get there in time, obviously. But I caught Lieutenant Drake and dragged some more out of him, and then while I was in the communications room I got an update from Dimms. We have a lead on Ellie's position."

  "Oh yeah?" Katie said, trying to sound surprised. "She's not at the clinic?"

  "Not unless she came back sometime this morning. And thank heaven for that. Let's get out of this godforsaken black hole." He didn't even wait for an answer but turned on his heel and pushed back out into the chill afternoon. Katie hurried after him and caught up halfway down the path to the east gate.

  He was just hooking his headset back on his ear, and as Katie approached he grumbled, "It'll be nice to be online again. The damn silence makes my skin crawl."

  Katie felt a pang of guilt at keeping him in the dark, but she fought it down. "What was it you found?" she asked, realizing Martin had never said.

  "We've got her voice—or one like it—on a private headset yesterday afternoon at two twenty-two, westbound on Iris Avenue."

  "Westbound?" Katie said. "She was moving? So someone was with her?"

  "Nope. From the sound of it, she had the window down, screaming at the other traffic. Our hit came off a snippet recorded through a passing motorist's closed window."

  "Wow," Katie said. "What was she yelling about?"

  Reed shrugged. "Impossible to tell, but she was not a woman in control of herself, that much is clear. Seems unlikely that would be a delayed emotional outburst, after all this time, but it could have something to do with us."

  Or with her attempts to sell the clinic's secrets, Katie thought. She only nodded. Reed wasn't watching her, though. His attention was all on his handheld as they left the clinic's heavy gates, and he breathed a theatric sigh of relief when the screen flashed to life. He looked up for just a moment to point Katie to a car waiting at the curb. "That's us," he said.

  She got in opposite him and watched him while the car pulled out into traffic. His eyes burned with a new intensity, strong jaw clenched as he looked for the answers he needed. Occasionally he opened his mouth to mumble a question to himself, but his focus was locked on the screen. After a while of watching that, Katie looked over to the dri
ver's monitor and saw that they were headed to the police station. When she looked back, Reed was watching her.

  "Don't worry," he said mildly. "Dora won't be there." He smiled when she tried to object, then tossed her his handheld. "Hathor, connect me to Dora. Thanks."

  Katie watched him, curious what he was up to. He looked serious, sure, capable. For the first time in two days, she realized, he was really in control of his own investigation. There was something more, though, and Katie suspected it had to do with the message from DC. He was wearing his authority like a tailored suit.

  When Hart answered his call, he skipped the formalities. "Dora, we've got Ellie Cohn somewhere in West Boulder, possibly Crisman or Salina. I want you to get boots on the ground, okay? I'm bringing in Federal agents to help, but we're going to need everything we can get."

  He paused while she responded, then shook his head. "No, I've got a rough TMS analysis painting a heatmap for us. Should be a search perimeter in your message center." He waited again, then put on a smile. "Thanks, Dora. Let me know. Yeah. Goodbye."

  He looked over to Katie, then nodded to the handheld she had clutched in her lap. "Any questions?"

  "Huh?" She almost blushed and looked down at it for the first time. It was the TMS analysis he'd shown her earlier, but, instead of three discrete dots on a close-up of the clinic, the map now showed all of northwest Boulder, the clinic tucked neatly against the southeast corner of the screen. A bright yellow thread tracked north and then west from the clinic for several miles. It split into three threads at one point, then those converged again a few miles later on Iris Avenue, which was the spot of the voiceprint Martin had given them.

  The solid thread ended less than a mile west of that point, but the map all around it glowed with a fluid overlay of varying shades of yellow. She knew how to read the heatmap with the dark orange, mostly transparent background representing low probabilities and a handful of brighter yellow corridors snaking through it that represented the most likely routes Ellie had taken. The edge of the yellow overlay cut off sharply at a range of about fifty miles, though—a rough circle centered on Martin's voiceprint. Katie frowned.