by Randy Dutton
Sven was entirely amused. “Date.”
“No. That’s when I’ll be briefing you on the rough schedule. Your place or your office?”
“My place.” He wrote down his address and passed it to her.“Then dinner.”
“Okay. I’m traditional, the guy pays.” She winked, then left.
Peggy called an hour later. “Hi, Sugar. I’m back in town. Can we get together tonight?”
Sven considered how wound up he was, and rationalized tonight might be his only free night for quite awhile. “Sure, I’ll be waiting.”
Chapter 37
July 5, 1000 hours
Dark Energy Computer, Eurécom, France
Anna had been very unsettled after leaving Robert’s apartment. Emptiness haunted her. Not since she was 15 had she thought her path approached a precipice. Trying to shake off the malaise, she returned to Dark Energy in her alter ego to check on the status of the projects she had set in motion.
Striding into the darkened computer room, Claire tried to get her head back into the game by reading status reports.
The black hats were easily breaking into internal communications to determine corporate actions, and they passed the information to the green hats for opportunistic action.
Financial trade volume on all bourses was at record highs, and Dark Energy’s computers were contributing to a good portion of it. Tens of billions of euros in daily trades were being made by the green hats. Their transactions funneled through shell accounts, with nearly 90 percent making profits.
The operations performing as expected. My plans are succeeding, so why aren’t I happy? As a gamer, I’m doing great. Why don’t I feel excited?
“Claire?” The hacker she had assigned to monitor the Maldives investigation interrupted her thoughts. He held out a thumbdrive and a folder. “I’ve got the stuff you asked for. Here’s a rundown of the law offices, police agencies, and diplomatic offices on the Hassan murder case you asked me to look into. I also was able to get into some of the law offices’ internal communications.”
“Good, what have you got?” She leaned over to look at the monitor.
“Seems the official investigation’s over,” the hacker said.
“What?!” Her eyes flared.
“There was a second investigation team sent to the Maldives, funded by one of the accused, Tom Heyward. He’s CEO of Profit Oil. It dug up some information that caused Interpol to back down.”
“What did they find?!” Her reaction was uncharacteristically intense.
“I’m not sure. Seems everyone went offline a couple days after this team showed up. It’s as if the police are afraid of electronically recording new facts. There’s an interesting aspect relating to the personal interest of one of the investigators. He’s a Dr. Pete Heyward, a son of the suspect. Here’s his profile, academics, medical report, and photo.”
Claire studied the photo and tried reasserting a calm demeanor with a benign comment. “Good looking guy.... I see he has a prosthetic lower leg.”
“Yes. He lost it in an RPG attack in Iraq. Obviously, he’s part of the imperialist American war machine.” The hacker grinned, looking for approval in his political beliefs.
Damn, he’s a Marine. Claire hid her inward anger with an observation. “His medical report shows the type of prosthetic… looks like a modern computer-assisted model. And you’ve got his therapy results. Good work.”
“Ran a half marathon. His time shows the fake leg doesn’t slow him down much,” he added.
Yet, thought Claire, “What else do you have?”
“They uncovered another person of interest. The documents make reference to a lawyer named...Anna Catherine Picard.” The hacker handed her a passport photo. “Do you want me to find more about her?”
A thunderclap went off in her mind. “No!” she said abruptly. Her mind screamed questions. How? Who put it together? These oil guys?
The hacker stepped back in surprise from her harsh response.
“I’m sorry,” Claire amended. “You’ve done well. I’ve got what I need. I want you to delete everything relating to this case from your computer and the server. Then go tell the supervisor you’re open for another assignment. And remember, this doesn’t go to anyone else. Got it?”
“Okay, Claire.” The hacker got up and left the work station.
Shaking imperceptibly, she thought, I need to think.
Closing her office door, she sat to review the file. Where did I slip up? And what now? How do I keep a wall between the investigators and myself? Where are the loose links? Certainly some of the Spider’s crew...Marv for one. He brought the boat and the bomb over. Damn, I like him, and I used his infatuation toward me against him. And what if Alexis finds out? Or worse, Jared?
Anna was back on the road two hours later. For the first time since childhood, the crosses on local church spires regained some meaning for her. They’re just religious artifacts. I haven’t been to church since I was 15. Why am I feeling guilty? Her mind raced. My world’s closing in.
Focus.... Self-preservation’s my first priority.
As she drove to the villa she reviewed a rough plan, refining various aspects, evaluating risks.
The Spider’s moored in Monaco right now, so Marv shouldn’t be too hard to find. He’s single and lives aboard. I know he’s a drinker, so he’ll probably be at a local bar tonight. He’s not allowed to bring women on board, so then the question is whether he’s shacking up with someone while in port.
Chapter 38
July 5, 1900 hours
Anna’s Villa, Côte d'Azur, France
The Rotts raced toward the arriving Alfa. Anna stepped out and held her palm outward. The dogs stopped within an arm’s reach and obediently sat, their tails still wagging.
“Not right now guys.” She snapped her fingers and pointed to the mats outside their dog houses. They happily trotted to their customary spots and lay down.
Anna carried a small bag inside.
“Miss Anna, I not expect you this evening,” Maulana rushed to her with a concerned expression.
“Everything’s okay. Take the rest of the night off. I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” she instructed, wanting to avoid a witness.
“Thank you, Miss Anna.” His expression showed slight worry as he walked to his car.
She went upstairs and took a quick shower.
Beyond the normal sized walk-in closet in the master bedroom, she had a false wall that opened outward to reveal a very large, more secret closet. This make-up room held a variety of costumes, wigs, body augmentations, and cosmetics. She stood naked in front of a full length mirror assessing her next move.
Tonight, to find Marv, I’ll cruise the dockside bars as a femme publique of a southern Mediterranean persuasion. She applied bronzing cream on skin that would be exposed, dark red lipstick, and matching fake fingernails with painted designs.
I’ll add a lustier image. She grinned while placing each self-adhesive gelled ‘D cup’. It’s amazing how pushing large breasts up and together stupefies men...always distracts them from the face. She clipped the strapless nude-colored cups together to enhance the cleavage.
Next she slipped on a skin-tight black outfit. The Lycra bodysuit with its plunging V-shaped neckline is always fun to wear. She purred. I feel like Catwoman – my childhood fantasy!
For stealth, she put on black boots with soft, silent soles. And then a long-haired black wig with long bangs to stand out in a crowd but disappear into the night.
Walking quickly to the basement, she went into the armory. Dressed all in black, with her BeltSword contained within a wide black belt, she decided that to dispatch Marv, she’d use a small, spring-loaded dart gun.
As she reached for the weapon the security monitor status board had several lights flashing red on the periphery of her property schematic.
The monitors had detected the boundary intrusion the evening before, but whatever had set it off had not proceeded to the next closer perimete
r zone that would have alerted her by cell phone. She grimaced. False alarms often happen with sensitive sensors. Probably something I’ll have to fix tomorrow.
Her fingers tapped the touch screen to display exactly what had triggered the infrared, visual, and electronic alarms.
She frowned as the story unfolded.
The indicators near the cliff walkway first went off for about 30 minutes. The intruder moved along, stopping at different points for about five minutes each time. Definitely, someone moved to several spots along the rear wall. It’s not unusual for tourists, but the lingering is. Mine isn’t one of the big, flashy villas that usually draw attention. An hour later, sensors in the tree line across the front lawn went off, followed 30 minutes later by the sensors along the driveway. The time was between 10 PM and midnight.
She switched to the visual camera sensor log and scrolled to the exact time. “There!” she said out loud as the image came into focus.
Somebody scanning my villa…. Looks like he’s got an infrared camera. Trying to see through my walls, buddy? Fat chance! Stone’s too thick. Maybe military grade ultra-wideband radar would work, but not infrared. And if you’re using the ultra-wideband 1.85 to 6 gigahertz band radar, it would show up on one of my sensors. I need to consider installing some dummies in the villa that simulate a warm, breathing human body as a distraction. Shouldn’t be too difficult.
Let’s see, you’ve got a telephoto lens, and a parabolic dish for long range listening, and possibly a frequency scanner. Face is blacked so I can’t get an image. Got any friends with you? The indicator boards seem to show only one guy’s been here. I wonder if there’s a lookout? Question is... are you coming back tonight? If so, perhaps I’ll have a surprise waiting.
So…change of plans. This immediate threat comes first. I’m already dressed for stealth.
The hypodermic needle squirted out the excess air. She put the measured dose into a small carry case and the small vial back into the armory refrigerator.
I don’t want to kill you yet, at least not until I’ve evaluated how much risk you pose.
From the wall she removed two devices that looked like porcupines – porcs she had nicknamed them – with attached carrying handles. Fresh batteries went in each, and a remote control was set to their frequencies. The porcs had quills that were part of a specially-designed tunable sting NETS – non-lethal entanglement technology systems. The NETS were compact, lightweight, far-ranging, and fired from the porcs.
Daylight was fading—she had to work fast. She checked the sensors to ensure no one was currently watching her villa. Slipping out a side door, she first moved to her dogs and whispered for them to stay, then slipped to the edge of the tree line. Each hand carried a porc, which were separately protected in a small shell.
She padded silently to the area where the spy had lain for a while.
Think you found a nice little reconnaissance spot don’t you? I made it convenient for guys like you to watch, just in case. Makes you easier to catch. As Sun Bin wrote, ‘Don’t scare them away – set a trap!’
Placing the porcs on opposite sides of the hidden clearing, she walked 50 meters away and activated the ambush.
I’ll check on you later.
Back inside, Anna put on background classical music and went around the villa turning on various lights. Returning to the armory she selected some weapons and put a suppressed Berretta 93G pistol and thigh holster under a dish towel on the table.
Just in case.
She plugged her laptop into a hidden Ethernet port to eliminate any wireless signal her stalker might detect.
Sipping a glass of wine and blocked from view by curtains, she calmly waited from her kitchen table station.
From here I should look vulnerable to someone on the outside using an IR lens. But I’m loaded for bear. I’ve got my eyes and ears all around me. Maybe you’ll come, maybe you won’t. But I’ll be waiting for you…said the spider to the fly.
During the interlude, her focus kept returning to the coffee-stained painting a few meters away. “Why do you haunt me so?”
By 11 PM the security status lights hadn’t changed.
I’m beginning to believe it’s a wasted night. Think I’ll check the individual sensors electronically.
She activated a diagnostic security program to get feedback.
Whoa! You’ve disconnected some of my zone alarms. You’ve been here an hour and I didn’t even know. Clever! But you’re also where I want you.
Using her laptop as a visual monitor, she scanned the darkened sensor area with a zoom-capable infrared camera mounted under the roof eave.
Gotcha! Under a thermal blanket…You must be good to have not set off the porcs! But let’s see what happens when I hit you with the Silent Guardian!
A recent addition to her arsenal was a new microwave beam gun mounted under the roof eave that inflicts intense pain by heating up water in the outer skin layers. Designed as a non-lethal crowd dispersal weapon it was an excellent tool to flush out adversaries.
I’m going to have too much fun tonight! Her fingers clicked the keyboard.
Her inner voice was sing-song and cheerful.
The porcs are still primed and ready, but with your thermal blanket they just don’t see you yet. A little aiming through the IR camera, and press this little button, and I’ll light you up right about…now! And up you jump! One of the porcs just shot its electrified net over you, and down you go. That electro-muscular charge should incapacitate you for about an hour.
I’ll just hit you with the microwave again to make sure you’re not playing possum.
Two seconds passed.
Nope, you’re not. Bet that hurt! And now it’s off. All right now…let’s see who we’ve bagged.
Anna smiled smugly and strapped on the thigh holster and inserted the silenced Glock. She picked up one of her favorite toys, a fighting baton with stun capabilities. It had the advantage of delivering an incapacitating shock through two probes on the end, or via the two metal bands running the entire length, just in case someone grabbed it. It also was designed to emit a blinding white tactical light or provide a night vision retaining red light.
Guided by the red light, she went out a side door and whistled for Styx and Perses. Both came bounding from their dog houses.
She shook her head. Worthless as guards but great for attack if I give the signal.
Opening a small shed, she rolled out a large garden wheel barrel. Casually, she pushed it to within 50 meters of the intruder and clicked the remote to turn off the porcs. Snapping her fingers, she pointed at the dogs and then the ground.
They obediently sat.
The white tactical light now illuminated the stun net covered shape. Pulling off the net revealed a stunned and incapacitated man.
She took out the hypodermic needle and stuck it in his jugular. “Good night.”
Anna dragged the heavy body into the wheel barrel, threw the thermal blanket on top, tossed in the gear he had been using, reloaded the porc that had been discharged, and started back towards the house.
About 50 meters away, she turned the porcs back on. Just in case a friend comes looking for you, she mused.
“Come,” she told the dogs.
They trotted after their mistress. Wagging their tails, they followed her and the wheel barrel through the side door.
“You’re lucky to even be alive,” she said to the limp body.
At the top of the basement steps she dumped her captive, grabbed his shoulders and dragged him thump, thump, thump downstairs into the basement, the body’s lower back taking the brunt of the bounces. She didn’t care one bit about treating the intruder harshly.
“Open.... Lights on.” The dojo door opened and she dragged him inside. She lashed his wrists, then his legs and hoisted him up next to the dummy, his toes just barely touching the mat.
After resetting the sensors, she slowly walked around the suspect. Fairly tall, muscular. What do you look like without the f
ace paint?
She grabbed a towel and started wiping it off. “Damn. I know who you are. You’re the son. The Marine recon lieutenant...Pete. Well, you’ll be out...maybe two hours.”
Glancing at his covered legs, she took her baton and rapped the right leg...clank, clank. “Sounds like titanium.” She smiled malevolently and shook her head. She put the baton down on a small table and frisked him, removing everything in his possession, and then looked over his gear.
An hour later, Anna now had the sensor display shifted to the large OLED display in the dojo. She was sitting at the table tapping on her computer, trying to gain intelligence on how Dr. Pete Heyward had managed to find her. Three daggers lay side-by-side.
“Catwoman?” groaned her very groggy captive as he peered through half-closed eyes.
Looking over at him her head shook in amusement. She rose and walked in front of him. “As far as you’re concerned…sure.” Her hands were on her hips. “Thought you’d be out another hour.”
Rolling his head around, he saw the dogs laying down four meters away. They were chewing on some meat bones. “Please tell me those aren’t human bones.”
“Maybe they are,” she taunted.
Styx and Perses sat up and stared as Pete began tightening his facial muscles and blinking rapidly, struggling to regain his senses from the anesthetic.
With his mind fog clearing, his eyes evaluated his very buxom captor. ”You dress like this at home...Anna?” Pain was evident in his voice.
She startled at hearing her name. “Hardly.... I had a date...and you interrupted it.... Why are you here?”
“Thought I’d check out the woman who framed my dad.” He stared into her eyes.
She picked up the three daggers as a bundle and rhythmically slapped the flat side of the blades against her left palm as she walked to his side. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied.
“How about this...your passport photo mesmerized me.” He maintained a nervous smile while his eyes followed the blades. “You look better as a blonde.”