by Tanya Stowe
“You think they killed him?”
“I know they did. He was another of their informants and his information contradicted some I gave them.”
“They believed you instead of him?”
Cal nodded. “When I asked about him Carter told me there’s lots of abandoned mines in the desert. It was a warning for me not to screw up or I’d end up just like the young engineer.”
Her lips parted and she gave a slight shake of her head. “Didn’t you feel responsible for his death?”
“Of course I did. But that young man knew he was betraying his country and taking dangerous chances when he got involved with the gang. There were others, innocents who got caught in the crossfire. A sailor they knifed in a guard shack on a San Diego base. A woman and her two children hit by their SUV when they were trying to escape the military police and someone...more personal.”
“Who?”
He cleared his throat, not sure he could talk about Buddy. He watched the gentle flakes fall as Buddy’s smiling face flashed through his mind.
“Buddy was my best friend. He was like your John. The best of the best. Two agents had infiltrated the gang and were scheduled to meet the boss. Buddy led the team following them for backup. Things went south and Buddy died doing his job...protecting the agents. The boss went underground. I thought the least I could do for Buddy—and the countless others—was bring the boss back to the surface.”
She was silent for such a long time, he broke off studying the falling snow and looked at her.
“So it isn’t justice you want. You’ve given up your life to go undercover for revenge. That’s the real thing that drives you. You want payback, so you came here instead of going straight back to the base. That’s the truth, isn’t it?”
He released his breath. “Yes, I admit I want to try and salvage my work. But I headed here because I don’t know who to trust on the base and it will take time for my Washington team to get there. I didn’t lie to you about that, Drina.”
He’d just left out an important detail...like the extraction unit. That thought curbed his argument and something about those hazel eyes, something honest, compelled him to think twice about his next response. “I am a driven person. I’ll give you that, but so are you. I don’t know many women who’d give up everything to create a weapon to save lives.”
He’d hit the nail on the head with that remark. Her lips flattened like she wanted to argue but thought better. Instead, she turned back to the window.
He came to stand beside her. Her brow was creased with a frown. Releasing his breath in another sigh, he caught her shoulders and turned her toward him. Her arms felt slender and fragile beneath his grip. Her features were clouded with doubt and confusion. He wanted to ease her confusion, to make her understand. Shiny locks curled into her face, close to one eye. Unlike the time in the shack, Cal couldn’t resist. Reaching up, he smoothed the dark, silky curl away.
“Drina, I think we have the same goal. We don’t want to see more people hurt.”
She looked up. “And we both feel guilty.”
She caught him off guard again with that truth. He inhaled slowly. “Yes, we both feel guilty. And we want to stop the violence.”
Closing her eyes she leaned into him. “More than anything.”
It was all Cal could do not to wrap his arms around her and pull her close. He bent a little. The warm, soft scent of pine drifted up from her hair. He inhaled deeply, ran his hands up and down her slender arms.
He had a job to do...had to make her understand while there was still time. He could not lose focus again. Gently, he pushed her back.
“I think we might still be able to stop them, Drina. I’m waiting for an email from my handlers. Let’s put our wait time to good use, combine our efforts and see if we can’t come up with a solid lead. When they contact me, I’ll tell them to send in the extraction team.”
She opened her eyes, looked up and shook her head. “What can we possibly do?”
He gripped her arms. “I still think you’re the key. Somewhere in your mind, something you’ve seen or heard is the info I need, the clue that will lead me to my next step.”
“I’ve told you everything. I’m not holding anything back.”
“I know that, but maybe there’s something we haven’t touched on, something that seemed unimportant at the time.”
Her lips thinned. “The last thing I want to do is to go over the events of the last few days but if you think it will help, I’ll do it. Let’s start again. From the beginning.”
“No. Let’s tackle it from a different direction, get a fresh perspective.” He dropped his hands from her arms and purposely turned to face the window. He could feel her warm presence next to him, the faint scent of pine. It was too distracting so he walked back toward the couch. Drina followed him and plopped down while he paced in front of the fireplace.
He was silent for a long while. At last he said, “Hal Jacobi.”
“Director of Operations at the base?”
He nodded. “What do you think of him?”
“He’s okay.” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug.
“Just okay? Doesn’t sound very positive. Don’t you like him?”
“He’s a nice guy. Really nice, but he can be a pain to work with sometimes.”
“What times? How?”
“He’s the kind of person who thinks knowledge is power. He’ll say something like, ‘My sources tell me your equations don’t work,’ and all the while his sources are five mathematicians in the back room who could be helping you, talking to you. But he’d rather keep them to himself, you know?”
“You mean he’s secretive?”
“Yes, and insecure. He’s told me many times these young engineers coming out of school can run circles around him.”
“Meaning you.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
She paused for a long while and a thought struck Cal. “Did he have access to your computer and emails?”
She nodded slowly. “Yes. Because of the security breach we had a check-and-balance system in place. As head of the program he would have had access to a list of my computer log-ons and offs. He couldn’t read my emails but he would have known I logged on, who I contacted and when I logged off.”
“So when you fired up your computer to send your equations to Carlisle, he could have seen it?”
Drina perked up. “Yes. Definitely. In fact, it would have sent him an alert since he was program manager here on-site. But he didn’t have any direct contact with anything I’ve done in the last week.”
“What about his engineers? Any of them know you cracked the code?”
“Honestly, I was too frustrated to think clearly.” She made a wry face and shook her head. “But I don’t think so. The test had been a disaster. Everyone involved left early that evening, disappointed and down. I stayed behind to try to figure out what went wrong. The only one who knew anything about my discovery was Bill.”
Cal straightened at the mention of her mentor and Drina shook her head. “Don’t even go in that direction. I told you, Bill wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.”
“Carlisle’s been at the top of the CIA’s investigation list from the beginning, Drina. Even if you don’t think he could be guilty, I have to follow the investigative process, so humor me.”
“All right. Ask your questions.”
“How did Carlisle sound when you called him.”
“Sleepy. I woke him up.”
Cal gave her a wry look.
“Sorry, Cal, but he really was sound asleep. I started to talk to him about the numbers and he told me to stop. Not to say another word over his unsecure home phone.”
“Then what happened?”
“His warning surprised me. I was so excited I’d forgotten about security so we were both quiet...thinking.
And then we heard the clicks, like someone was listening in.”
“Carlisle heard them, too?”
“Yes. They worried him. He asked me where my work was. I said on my computer. He told me to follow the protocols, to send it over our secure line and to contact you. And then to get out of there.”
“He actually told you to contact me?”
“Yes. Does that sound like someone betraying the program?”
Cal wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed. “No, it doesn’t. So we’re back to square one and Hal Jacobi.” He shook his head. “I’ll contact my office, see if they can tap into his computer and get some leads. Let’s hope we haven’t lost internet in this storm.”
“Isn’t that illegal...or something?”
“His work computer is government property. Everything on it belongs to the US Air Force.”
He started toward his bedroom desk.
“Then I can do that.”
He paused. “What?”
“I can tap into Jacobi’s computer from here. I work extensively with computers. It’s part of my job. If Jacobi is hooked into our system, I can access it.”
Cal gave a shake of his head. “But can you do it without them tracing it back to your computer?”
“Oh, they’ll trace it. But I can set up several proxy servers and lead them around the world. By the time they narrow them down, I’ll be gone. They’ll know the area but not our exact location. It’ll be a tight squeeze and we’ll have to time it to the second, but I can do it.”
Cal studied her. Her eyes were wide and there was a sparkle in the hazel depths that hadn’t been there moments ago. She was excited about the challenge. Brilliant and beautiful. She had all the qualifications to be the perfect CIA analyst. He shook his head at that thought. Maybe in another lifetime. Drina hated the CIA and everything about it...and maybe even him...and he’d allowed himself to be distracted again.
He shook his head and decided to act quickly, before that nagging little voice convinced him otherwise. “Let’s do it.”
She flashed him a slight smile and spun before her aching muscles reminded her to slow down. Then she winced and gingerly moved forward. He couldn’t suppress a chuckle as he followed her to his desk.
She sent him a scathing glance over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry. You really should have taken my suggestion and done a bit of stretching.”
Her only response was a miffed silence as she eased into his chair. She pulled her computer out of the backpack Cal had purchased at the sporting goods store and set it on the desk. Cal gave her his internet password and she connected. When it clicked on, he breathed a sigh, relieved they still had a connection.
“It’ll take me a few minutes to set things up.” Her fingers flew across the keyboard, flitting from site to site. All the while Cal paced behind her. Was he making a mistake?
The smartest thing to do was to let headquarters do this search. But that would take time and they had precious little of that commodity left. Besides, his team would have to follow protocols and Cal doubted Drina would let the rules slow her down. Time was of the essence. It was a risk, but a risk Cal was willing to take.
“All right. I have the first proxy established. Do you have a watch? I need the response timed to the second.”
“Got it.”
“Tell me when you’re ready.”
Cal waited for the second to reach the half hour. “Now.”
He heard her fingers tapping the keyboard.
“We’re connected. How many seconds?”
“Twenty.”
Drina nodded. “All right. I’m going to need at least two minutes’ worth.”
She searched for another proxy, set up the account and timed the response again. They repeated the process. Tension built in Cal as Drina added seven proxy servers and painstakingly linked them. He couldn’t stop pacing or walking to the window and watching the sky outside.
Would they run out of time? Would Drina be able to connect all these sites and still hack into Jacobi’s email? Because they’d only get one chance before Drina would have to shut down.
Tension continued to build inside him with no way to release it. He hated this...hated that he was helpless while she did all the work...hated that she was involved at all. He should have called for the team and gotten her to safety.
Maybe his years at his job had skewed his thinking. Maybe she was right. The tactics he’d been using were dangerous, damaging. He certainly felt more comfortable running and firing a gun.
As the minutes ticked by, his concern built. He decided he should have listened to that little voice. “Drina...”
She didn’t pause from her furious typing.
“How are you going to get around Jacobi’s passwords and safeguards?”
She didn’t look up to answer, just kept working with serious determination and a touch of excitement. If he wasn’t mistaken, Miss I-Don’t-Like-Violence was enjoying this risky venture.
“I won’t have to do anything. If our system sent an alert to his email, I’ll create a new one and follow the system in.” She paused and shot a purposeful grin over her shoulder. “I own that program. I’ll simply send another alert and follow it past his safety protocols.”
“He’ll see the alert and know you hacked his account.”
“I’ll erase it as soon as I’m in.”
“We’ll be able to read his email?”
“Yes.” Now she did pause and turned to face him. “But we’ll have limited time. Three maybe four minutes. So tell me now what we’re looking for. I won’t have time to download everything.”
Cal inhaled slowly while his mind churned. “The night you were kidnapped, did he send other emails after he received the alert from my team? That would have been at approximately five in the morning. And if he did, who did he send them to?”
“Got it.” She turned back around in her seat. “I’m setting up a search now. The computer can look through his emails much faster than I can. Once we’re in, I’ll click on the search and download as many emails as I can. But you’ll have to time me. I estimate it will take over a minute to connect. A minute to send the alert and track it. And two minutes to copy and download. The proxies will only give us five minutes max. I’ll get involved, so give me a countdown to remind me to click off. Everything clear?”
Cal nodded. “I’m still not sure this was a good idea but we’re in it now.”
“Okay.” Drina sat up straighter and took a deep breath. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
Cal waited for the half minute again. “Go.” His tone was low, taut, tense. Drina’s fingers leaped over the keyboard. The proxy server appeared and Drina clicked on. The spinning wheel signaling the wait appeared as the link tried to connect. It spun around and around and around.
“Twenty seconds.” Still the wheel spun. At last the screen for a new proxy appeared and the wheel spun around as the site hooked up. This time it connected quicker. Another site appeared. Now it seemed the sites were moving faster and faster.
“One minute.” Still they hadn’t accessed the servers of Drina’s company. Cal clenched a fist as he counted the precious seconds clicking by on his watch.
“I’m in.”
Cal released the breath he’d been holding and leaned forward to watch the computer screen. Drina clicked through at a speed he couldn’t follow.
“Yes!” she yelled but didn’t stop typing. “There’s the alert. I’m sending another.”
She punched a button and the images on the screen froze. One. Two. Three seconds. He was about to ask her what happened when a listing of emails popped onto the screen. Success! Cal wanted to shout this time, but he didn’t dare distract Drina.
“Three minutes.” He purposely kept his tone low and controlled so as not to alarm Drina, but his heart was pounding. His blood b
anged so loud through his temples he thought if he leaned any closer to her she’d hear it.
She clicked the search button. An email appeared on the screen.
“There!” Drina’s tone reflected her excitement. “Five minutes after five in the morning, he sent an email to someone named Hightower.”
Cal bit back an exclamation. Hightower was the engineer with the gambling problem.
More emails popped up on the screen. Drina pointed. “Look. Jacobi sent five...six...no seven emails to Hightower between five and six o’clock after he received the alert. Those two sure were busy the morning I was kidnapped.”
Cal straightened with determination. “Get those emails downloaded. We need to open and read them. They may be the clue I need.”
He glanced at his watch. “Four minutes. Hurry.”
She hit the keys so fast she started making mistakes. They took precious more seconds to correct.
“Four and a half minutes, Drina. That’s enough. Close it down.”
“Just a few more. Their emails were shooting back and forth all day long after I disappeared.”
“None of that matters if they trace this hack back to us. We can’t use the proof if we’re dead.”
“Just a few more.”
“Fifteen seconds, Drina. I said shut it down!”
“Okay. Okay.” She punched the exit. The screen went black...but just for a moment. Seconds later, a flashing red box appeared in one corner.
“What’s that?” Cal pointed.
“I don’t know. I’m not... It’s the server. The company’s security system is trying to track us.”
“Stop it. Shut it down!”
She threw her hands up. “I can’t. It used my method and followed our messages back. It’s trying to take over the machine. I can’t... I don’t...”
Reaching over Cal punched the off button on the computer then Drina pulled the plug on the router. The red light stopped blinking and the low whir of the computer faded to an eerie silence.