Dare Me

by Tara Wylde

  25. INTERLUDE

  The big man steps out of his spot under a weeping willow in Madison Square Park and into General Worth Square. His eyes follow Carson as he heads northeast on Fifth Avenue.

  This is highly unusual. Two contestants meeting with the quarry, neither of them giving her their key. Then the quarry leaves, and the contestants walk away in different directions.

  It makes no sense. Unless…

  He takes out his phone and dials a number.

  “Yes?” the voice says in Russian.

  “Something is happening. Something we’ve never seen before.”

  “What?”

  “I am not sure just yet,” he says. “But I fear we may have been compromised.”

  Chapter 130

  26. CARSON

  Sometimes being a nerd can come in handy. I mean, outside of building and selling multi-billion-dollar tech companies.

  The computer server room in my penthouse is something to see, although no one else ever has. The window wall that looks out on the Manhattan skyline actually acts as my monitor, reflecting multiple desktops projected from a lens that’s set into the ceiling. It allows me to see images at almost life size.

  I created a program the night the Chase began that’s been helping me narrow down my leads. It combines facial recognition software with a reverse search engine for image files, and it all works in a Tor browser. Translated, that just means I upload photos I’ve taken and the program analyzes the facial features. Then it searches the dark web for any potential matches in its clandestine databases.

  Of course, that might all be unnecessary; the information might be out there on the plain old Internet, so I’m also running the program on social media.

  Personally, I limit just about everything about me online. Nobody needs to know where I live, or what I’m doing, or how much I’m worth. That’s one of the reasons I’ve managed to stay off the Forbes list for so long.

  So between the dark web and Facebook, I should be able to wrap up the Chase long before my competitors. Richard Linkletter may have more money in the bank, but he’s Forrest Gump compared to me when it comes to gray matter.

  Even with the hardware I’ve rigged up, the process takes time. The system is currently working on camera phone pics I snapped of three different women I’ve seen multiple times in different spots around midtown. All during the day, which precludes a regular job.

  None of them were in expensive designer clothes or shoes, so they’re probably not rich. All of them are stunning, and they move like they’ve had training. Little things like walking with their feet pointed forward, instead of at an angle.

  It stabilizes the knees and makes it easier to avoid injury in a fight-or-flight situation. One of the many things I learned from Matthias.

  I find myself comparing all of them to Cassie, and to that woman they come up short. I don’t know what she does to stay in shape, but it’s probably CrossFit or something else regimented. She moves like a natural athlete these days, which is amazing, since she never got involved in sports in school.

  Then again, neither did I, and look at me now.

  I’m staring at the screen from my custom-made gaming chair as thousands of potential matching images stream by on the window wall, when my phone chimes.

  It’s a text from Maksim: I am being downstairs. Up I come.

  I leave the program to its task and head out into the living room. There’s a half-full decanter of Macallan’s on the bar – I picked up a bottle after my encounter with Red Dress at the Regent bar because damn, it was good.

  Of course, it better be at thirty grand a bottle.

  The aroma hits my nostrils as I pour the scotch into a couple of crystal glasses. I carry them to the elevator door that opens onto my living room just as I reach it. Maksim’s hand is open to receive it as soon as he walks into the room. After all, when you’re born into money, you become accustomed to the little details.

  From the outside, it must look like a choreographed scene out of a movie. It’s just one of the rituals we’ve developed over the course of our friendship. We’re cool like that.

  Says the geek who threw together a computer program in one night.

  “What is up, my homey?” Maks grins, raising his hand for a fist-bump. Every time he does it I want to slap him – fist bumps are so ten years ago – but I indulge him. He’s trying.

  “Chillin’ like a villain,” I grin back as we amble over to the study that adjoins the living room.

  Unlike the modern functionality of the rest of the 6,000 square feet, the study is done in rich wood and hand-woven Persian rugs. I designed it to look like the British gentlemen’s clubs I used to read about in Sherlock Holmes stories when I was a kid.

  We take our seats in a pair of antique wingback chairs. All that’s missing is a couple of Cuban cigars. Matthias would literally beat me with a rusty rake if he ever found out I’d been smoking, of course, so the air remains unpleasantly clear.

  Maks holds the first sip of scotch in his mouth for a moment, savoring it before it goes down. At least he has enough class to do that.

  We catch up for a while on what we’ve been up to. I’m sparse on details, of course, because we can’t talk about the Chase, even behind closed doors.

  Then Maks decides to throw me a curveball.

  “So, Carson,” he says with a grin. “When were you going to be telling me about your new red hair friend?”

  I almost choke on my drink.

  “What are you talking about?” I say, trying to be nonchalant.

  “The other day, I am walking past that Patty’s icy cream place you go to and I see you talking to the lovely red hair lady through the window glass.”

  His grin is supposed to put me at ease, but for some reason it only succeeds in annoying me.

  “She’s a friend of mine from high school,” I say. “No big deal.”

  “Yes big deal! Front of Wall Street Journal kind of deal. She is drop down gorgeous, my friend. I hope you enjoyed your time with her. When is, how you say, acquisition and merger?”

  “Merger and acquisition,” I correct him automatically. “But it wasn’t like that. She’s a friend.”

  She’s obviously more than that; she said so herself. But I don’t know what I think anymore.

  Maks smiles and nods.

  “You are making joke,” he says. “I get it.”

  “No joke. Cassie and I aren’t … together.”

  “Cassie,” he sighs. “Like Cassiopeia, the constellation of stars. Breathtaking.”

  I can’t argue with him there.

  “So you are not with her? You are not pulling on my leg, are you?”

  “No pulling,” I say. “Besides, we both know I’m … busy on something else right now. I have other things on my mind.”

  He nods thoughtfully.

  “So you will not be angry if I am making the move on this beautiful red hair?”

  Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hell to the no.

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea,” I say, desperately searching my brain for a plausible reason to say that.

  “But why are you saying so? You are not interested.”

  Suddenly it comes to me.

  “Cassie and I used to be really good friends,” I say. “If you started ... you know, pursuing her, it would just be weird. Like if you were dating my sister. You know?”

  Maks frowns. “It would be the honor if you dated my sister,” he says.

  I bet it would be. I’ve seen his sister – her eyebrows are even thicker than his.

  “You know what I mean,” I say.

  “I think I know that you don’t want anyone else to have her, even if you don’t want her yourself. That is not cool, tovarishch.”

  “Look, I’m not going to go after any woman until I’m finished with … my activities for the next couple of weeks. After that, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Cassie and I might develop into something.”

  Maks drains his glas
s and stands up. I can’t remember him ever being angry with me, but right now he’s about as close as I’ve ever seen.

  “I think that is being pretty selfish,” he says. “And you are not the boss of me. If I want to talk to Cassie the red hair, I will do it. Maybe she will like me. You don’t know that she won’t.”

  “Maks…”

  I follow him into the living room, where he calls up the express elevator that only comes to my floor. He avoids my gaze, flipping through messages on his phone as he waits.

  “We’re friends,” I say. “Friends do favors for friends.”

  He looks up from his phone, as serious as I’ve ever seen him.

  “Like introduce you to women everywhere we go?” he asks. “Like make sure there is always party going on with beautiful ladies?”

  Okay, he’s right on that one. I’ve hit him below the belt.

  The bell rings as the doors open. Maks steps in and turns to face me.

  “I am thinking maybe you need to look at yourself in the mirror,” he says. “If you have so many thoughts of Cassie the red hair, why are you chasing someone else you don’t know even know what she looks like?”

  I have no answer as the elevator doors close in front of him, sending him straight to the ground floor.

  Chapter 131

  27. CASSANDRA

  I’m at the stage where faces are starting to look familiar, which means it’s time to up my game.

  It’s not easy to keep track of them all. In my work, I always had a database to reference, teams of analysts forwarding me data, or a surveillance control with access to satellites or other means of tracking and identifying people.

  In the Chase, all I have is my wits. I’m not allowed to use any work-related technology. Even if I could, I’d be hard-pressed to pull it off without my former employers finding out.

  That would mean my father finding out, and I definitely don’t feel like explaining the Chase to him. Somehow, I just don’t think he’d understand. Hard to say which would mortify him the most: the fact I was selling my virginity, or the fact I was taking money from the Russian mob.

  Honestly, I don’t know which side bothers me more.

  The curtains part as the lights go down, and suddenly the stage is full of nerdy men in black pants, short-sleeved white shirts and black ties. They’re singing a song called “Hello” to the packed house, and it’s hilarious enough to make me forget about the Chase for a few minutes.

  This afternoon matinee of The Book of Mormon is a rare opportunity to slip into darkness and out of the line of fire for a couple of hours. I’m surrounded by people giggling their way through the number as the actors portray Mormon missionaries trying to charm their way into the homes of potential converts.

  The show continues along that vein, and I keep on laughing along with the crowd. This is a welcome respite from the stress of the last several days. It’s almost as pleasant as looking at the balance in my Cayman account this morning: $1.5 million.

  For six days of work.

  Finally, we reach the intermission and the lights come up. My instincts kick in and I immediately scan the theater. Nothing sets off any alarms, but in such a crowded place, it’s best to keep moving.

  There are four separate lines for the bar, all long enough that I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to get a drink before the lights go down again. But it gives me an opportunity to stand in one place for a while and look bored. Hiding in plain sight.

  I check my watch repeatedly, keeping up with the others around me. There’s a large contingent of what I assume are Asian tourists to my right, chatting in Mandarin.

  Then I look to my left and I feel adrenaline rush into my system. I’ve seen the squat, balding man in the line to my left, two spots ahead, several times in the last few days. He’s hard to miss, with the nest of auburn hair circling the dome of his head and squinty eyes that look like he’s perpetually staring into the sun.

  He was at Patty’s two afternoons ago and I saw him again outside Carnegie Hall, both of which are on the list of places I provided to the organizers of the Chase. I don’t recognize his face from Forbes, but going from memory has never been my strong point.

  I have to assume he’s onto me.

  The couple in front of me look at their watches and sigh loudly before leaving the line. Suddenly I’m beside the bald man.

  An idea comes to me just as he turns his head in my direction.

  I roll my eyes and reach into my purse, pulling out my phone. I angrily stab the screen, as if to answer a call.

  “What?” I snap. “Can’t I have five minutes peace?”

  The man glances around the line, not focusing on me.

  “What do you mean you don’t know where she is?” I grouse into the phone. “She has to be there, the recital ended ten minutes ago.”

  Next thing I know, I’ve locked eyes with him. He looks at me for a beat before I give him my best NYC “the fuck you lookin’ at?” expression.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” I say, turning away from him. “Some idiot was trying to hit on me. Listen, I don’t have time for this. She’s probably talking to Janey.”

  I raise my voice. “Janey! How do you not know what she looks like? She’s been to our place a dozen times!” Exasperated sigh. “You know what, I don’t have time for this. Figure it out! The curtain’s going to go up in a minute and I didn’t even get my wine.”

  I poke the screen again, toss the phone into my purse and storm back toward the theater entrance. As people mill past, I do a button hook and head back out on the other side of the crowd. I stop in an alcove near the entrance to the ladies room and take up a surveillance position.

  My eyes follow the bald man as he scans the room in frustration. Finally he looks at his watch and shakes his head. With a dejected look, he heads for the exit.

  I wait several minutes before going back into the line at the bar. If I didn’t need a drink before, I definitely need one now. That was one hell of a close shave.

  With the second half of the show underway, the line has thinned out considerably and I manage to find a spot at the counter right away.

  “What can I get you?” the girl asks. She’s dressed like a man, with a bow tie and black vest.

  “Chardonnay, please,” I say, digging out my wallet. “The biggest glass you’ve got.”

  She fills a nine-ounce glass and slides it over to me.

  “That’ll be $16.50,” she says.

  Call the cops! Even with a million plus in the bank, I wince at the price.

  “I’ve got it,” says a familiar voice behind me.

  You’ve got to be kidding me. I turn around to see the familiar face that goes with the voice. That chiseled chin and sweeping blond hair, those smoky gray eyes.

  “Hello, Cassie,” he says.

  I play it cool, even though nothing could be further from the truth. My heart is pounding. I feel like my ribcage could explode at any moment.

  “Hello, Carson,” I say. “Long time no see.”

  Chapter 132

  28. CARSON

  I’ve never been one to believe in anything I couldn’t see. I’m a scientist through and through: you better be able to prove anything you expect me to believe, or you run the risk of having your argument systematically dismantled.

  Needless to say, I don’t believe in any New Age nonsense. Nothing drives me up the wall like people who talk about how everything is connected, claiming that “quantum physics proves it.” Just don’t get me started.

  But I just can’t ignore this anymore: it’s happened too many times. Something extraordinary is definitely going on here. I mean, it’s almost enough to make a die-hard skeptic believe in the concept of fate.

  Cassie is obviously getting used to it, too. We’re at Holeo’s, a little donut place on the waterfront. It’s the fifth time this week that we’ve randomly run into each other while I was tracking the quarry.

  “You still love chocolate, I see.”

  Cassie tur
ns and smiles sheepishly at me through the rim of dark brown around her lips.

  “Please tell me I don’t have donut icing all over my face,” she says. “Even if I do, please tell me that I don’t.”

  “You don’t have donut icing all over your face,” I lie, handing her a napkin. She wipes her lips and tosses the smeared paper into the trash.

  I’m here because I managed to come up with three likely suspects via my computer program. One is an FBI agent currently on a sabbatical from teaching at Quantico, one is a retired Army intelligence major, and the third is an analyst with a defense contractor in Iraq, home for six weeks vacation. Any of those would be a perfect cover for a black ops agent.

  All of them are from the south, though I haven’t been able to determine whether they graduated from any of the military colleges. Those records aren’t easily accessible to the public, and I’m not about to hack them. That would be cheating. And, more to the point, illegal.

  None of them are here right now, unfortunately. This is turning out to be more frustrating that I would have thought possible. The upside, of course, is that none of my competitors is any further ahead than me.

  I hope.

  “It’s almost eerie,” Cassie says, shaking her head. “You know me – peer-reviewed evidence to the core. But I mean, come on. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were stalking me.”

  I’m stalking someone, but it’s not her. Although of course I’m not about to tell Cassie that. This situation is already fucked up enough as it is.

  “Hey,” I say. “I could say the same thing. Anybody who knows me knows Dino’s coconut caramel is my only weakness.” I frown. “Don’t tell Matthias.”

  Her laughter at our running joke is like a wind chime on the soft breeze coming off the river. It’s a welcome respite from the heat of the day. Summer has been a scorcher so far this year, and there’s no relief in sight. Especially when I’m sitting across from Cassie.

  Our eyes meet for a moment and suddenly I’m locked there like a magnet. Everything about her is perfection: the curves under her halter and shorts threaten to make me hard right here in the middle of the street. My mind flashes back to our encounter in the coatroom, just like it has every night since as I lie awake in my bed, trying to make the tent under my sheets go down.