Constant Risk

by Janie Crouch

  There was some sort of secret room behind the closet. No wonder the damned thing seemed so small.

  Penelope and Whitaker both rushed back into the closet behind him.

  Whitaker cursed when he saw the open panel. “Are you kidding me?”

  Tanner tilted his head toward the doorway. “Cover me. I’m going in.”

  Whitaker moved into place, drawing his weapon and holding the door open. Tanner moved slowly through the opening, ducking since it was only about half the size of a normal door, his own Glock pointed in front of him.

  It didn’t take long to realize the small room, about half the size of the closet, since that was exactly what it was, didn’t have any people in it. There was nowhere to hide anything in here.

  But there were definitely computers. A dozen of them. A comfy chair. A well-worn desk.

  This was Elliot’s personal space.

  “It’s clear. But we need to get Bree and Jeremy in here right away. We’ve definitely found our link to the killer.”

  Chapter Nine

  Once the room was deemed secure, Penelope brought Jeremy in. He was typing on the main computer system sitting on the desk. Whitaker, Tanner and Penelope were hanging farther back, staying out of Jeremy’s way.

  “We need to get Bree in here,” Tanner said. “You heard what she said about how the killer might set up the computer system to warn him.”

  Penelope shook her head. “Not yet. We let Jeremy work. He knows what he’s doing. No offense, but your girlfriend is a civilian. She may know computers, but she’s not a forensic expert. Plus, she couldn’t even remember my name.”

  “She got us here, didn’t she?” Tanner knew how hard it could be trusting someone outside of your own department. But if it wasn’t for Bree, they’d all still be sitting watching a woman drown drop by drop.

  And despite any names she might have forgotten, Bree was the genius when it came to computers.

  “Penelope, let her observe,” Whitaker said. “Tanner’s right. She got us here. She may see something nobody else does.”

  Penelope shrugged and turned back to Jeremy. “Fine. But she doesn’t touch anything unless she’s given the go-ahead by Jeremy.”

  Jeremy gave a smug little nod, but Tanner didn’t call him on it. They were running against a clock, and egos weren’t important.

  He climbed back out of the secret room and made his way outside. Bree was leaning against the car, laptop in hand, when he got to her.

  “This isn’t it, is it?” she asked, looking around. “This neighborhood is too busy. There’s no way he could have gotten her in here without anybody noticing.”

  “The house is empty. No sign of the victim or the killer. But it’s definitely the right place. We found some sort of secret closet with all sorts of computers.”

  Her big green eyes got even bigger. “Can I come in? If I have access to his system, I’m sure I can master a backdoor entry and trace where the actual transmissions are coming from. We don’t even have to wait for him to make a move.”

  She was already heading toward the house. He quickly caught up with her. “Freckles, listen, Jeremy gets a crack at it first. This is the Dallas PD’s case.”

  The sour look on her face told him everything he needed to know about her feelings on that subject.

  “It is his job and he wants a chance to get some of the credit,” he continued.

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t care about credit. This is not my job. This is about saving someone’s life.”

  He took her hand in his and they walked up the steps together. “Just see what you can see, but don’t take over.”

  When they got to the secret room, it was just Penelope and Jeremy. Whitaker was helping the other officers search the house more thoroughly.

  Bree didn’t say anything, but her lips were tight as she watched Jeremy work over his shoulder. Tanner was amazed that Bree was able to keep silent for ten whole minutes. She shifted and he thought she was about to make a suggestion to the other man, but instead she began looking around the room.

  “What?” Tanner whispered.

  “That’s not the right system.” Her eyes were darting rapidly to the different computers lying everywhere, at least a dozen. The main one sitting at the desk Jeremy was working on, two other desktop systems on either side and eight or nine different laptops, ranging from top-of-the-line to not much more than paperweights.

  “Are you sure? Maybe Jeremy is just missing something?” he whispered as softly as he could.

  It wasn’t soft enough.

  “Hello...sitting right here, you know.” Jeremy turned and looked at Bree. “Fine, what am I missing?”

  She didn’t look at him, just kept studying the computers on the shelves around her.

  “Nothing,” she finally said. “You’re doing everything right. That computer is a dummy system, that’s why you can’t find what we need. The real system is one of these.”

  Jeremy turned back to the computer he’d been working on. “Are you kidding me? This system would be a hacker’s dream. Why would he not use it?”

  Now Bree turned and looked at Jeremy, then at the computer system. “Actually, that’s a very good point. Why set that one up as the obvious culprit, unless he wanted someone to use it?”

  Bree crossed over to Jeremy. Tanner expected her to demand he get out of the way so she could sit down, but instead she pulled the CPU out and turned it so she could see it.

  Then muttered a curse.

  “What?” Tanner asked.

  “Too many wires.” She started following the large grouping of wires down past the desk, crawling along the floor to follow them to where they disappeared into a small fuse box.

  She cursed again, and Tanner knew they were in trouble. “Freckles, what?”

  She ignored him. “Jeremy, open a command prompt window and see if there’s a date.”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it!” Bree roared.

  “Fine. Okay.” Jeremy’s fingers clicked on the keyboard. “Okay, I’ve got it here and...oh, damn.”

  “Is it a countdown?”

  Jeremy nodded, staring at the screen. “Yes. God, Bree, it’s counting down from 5, 4, 3, 2...”

  Bree dived away from the fuse box as, not a split second later, it exploded all around them, with an ear-piercing squeal and a ball of flames. It knocked out the power, leaving the closet in darkness. Jeremy yelled out, his chair making a huge crash.

  “Bree! Jeremy!” Tanner could barely make out anything in the dark, except for the fire that was beginning to climb along the walls.

  “I’m okay,” she called.

  “Jeremy?” Penelope called out.

  “I’m alive.” The man’s voice was tight with pain. “Burned. The computer is toast.”

  Tanner found Bree’s hand and started pulling her toward the door. “We’ve all got to get out of here.”

  “Boss,” Whitaker called from the doorway. “The whole house is on fire. Every fuse box and outlet in the place just lit up.”

  “Get everybody out,” Penelope called. “Take anything you can that might help us.”

  Bree pulled her hand from Tanner’s. “I’ve got to find the killer’s operating system. It’s one of these other computers.”

  She turned on the flashlight on her phone to give more light and began looking.

  “Bree, we don’t have time for this. That fire is going to reach the door and block our way out in just a couple of minutes.”

  He pulled at her arm, but she yanked it back.

  “He knows we’re onto him now. That was his fail-safe. He may already have an alarm that lets him know we infiltrated his house. But if not, he’ll definitely know once he tries to broadcast again. He’ll shut it down. We’ll lose him.”

  Jeremy struggled over beside her, holdi
ng his arm and chest at an awkward angle.

  “She’s right. This is our only chance.” He shone his flashlight also. “Probably the Xeon, with the CoreMC, right? It’s the most powerful.”

  “Jeremy, Tanner,” Penelope yelled. “Just grab them all, and we’ll sort it out later. That fire is getting higher.”

  Tanner started grabbing the nearest computer. Penelope was right—they just needed to get the computers out. But it jerked a few inches before it wouldn’t move anymore. Frowning, he put that one down and tried a different one, with the same result.

  He let out a curse. “They’re chained. We can’t take them with us.”

  “Everybody out. Now!” Penelope yelled.

  “We’ve got time to try one,” Jeremy said. “Bree is right. This is our only chance to save this woman’s life.”

  “That one,” Bree said, pointing to the one in the lower corner.

  “Are you crazy?” Jeremy yelled. “That thing barely looks more powerful than an Atari 2600.”

  Bree was already opening it. “The Holy Grail is never the jewel-studded goblet. It’s the most plain.”

  The smoke was getting thicker in the room. They had maybe a minute left before they wouldn’t be able to breathe.

  “This is it!” Bree was already typing, bypassing the manual operating system.

  “Freckles, we are running out of time.”

  She didn’t stop typing. “I just need to see the code. I can memorize it. Two minutes.”

  Tanner looked around the room at the growing fire. “You’ve got half that.”

  He turned to the others. “Penelope, get Jeremy out of here. There’s nothing more you two can do. I’ll get Bree out.”

  “This is not worth you two dying,” the other woman responded. “We’ll find another way.”

  “Get your men out. I’ll get Bree out. I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”

  Bree wasn’t saying anything. Her eyes were riveted to the screen as line after line of computer code built in front of her. He didn’t try to interrupt. He’d only seen this one other time, when she’d been building the system she needed in order to take down Michael Jeter and the Organization.

  She considered it a flaw, the fact that her brain was so much like a computer, able to process data but not so great with emotions. Right now, that computer-type brain was going to save a life.

  He stayed at her back, watching the fire, giving her as much time as they could possibly spare to get as much info as she could. It wasn’t until the door was about to collapse in on itself that he finally turned and grabbed her. “Time’s up. I gave you as long as possible.”

  She didn’t argue, didn’t say anything. Just slipped her hand in his and let him lead her out the door.

  But once outside of the closet they weren’t any safer. They both pulled their jackets over their noses and mouths to try to block the smoke, not that that did much good.

  Finding the front door was going to be a bitch. Tanner started leading her as best he could.

  “Dempsey! Bree!” Whitaker yelled out from across the room. “Call out!”

  “Here!” Tanner returned.

  A second later a blast from a fire extinguisher shot in their direction. Whitaker was making a path for them.

  They both ran, passing Whitaker, who then turned and followed them out the door.

  Tanner could hear the sound of sirens getting closer over his own labored breathing as he and Bree stumbled toward the car.

  “Is she okay?” Whitaker got out between harsh breaths of his own.

  “Computer,” Tanner said. “She needs her computer.”

  Tanner straightened and helped Bree make it to the car, as Whitaker was getting her laptop out for her. She collapsed, sitting cross-legged on the front lawn, and began typing at a frantic pace. Tanner stood guard over her and let her work. Letting her get the code out now, while it was still fresh in her brain was critical.

  Ten minutes later Penelope walked over. Bree was still typing at a frantic pace. “You guys okay?”

  “Yeah. Just give her a chance to work.”

  “Did she get hurt? Her nose is bleeding.”

  Tanner had been watching that drop of blood leak slowly from Bree’s nose for the last five minutes. There was nothing more he wanted to do than wipe it away but knew it wasn’t a priority. “Yeah, she’s taxing her brain pretty hard.”

  “What exactly is she doing?”

  “She has a unique gift in how she sees and remembers computer coding. Almost a photographic memory. She’s re-creating what she can remember and will extrapolate the rest from what she finds.”

  Jeremy walked up beside Penelope. “Damn. I’ve heard of stuff like this, but never actually seen it.”

  Tanner shrugged. “Bree is the best on the planet. She said we’ve got to catch this guy before the next transmission goes live or else he’ll be clued in that we are onto him. He may already be clued in.”

  Penelope shot them a worried glance. “That’s less than thirty minutes. Do you have any idea how long this is going to take her?”

  “No. But I do know she’s aware of the time crunch and is doing the best she can.”

  “We won’t make the mistake of doubting her again,” Penelope said. “Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.”

  “Just be ready to move when she is.”

  * * *

  BREE FELT LIKE she was coming out of a dream.

  But a dream where she had been held down and kicked in the head multiple times.

  “I’m done.” Her voice sounded much weaker than she had intended it to, reminding her of the weeks after she’d been strangled, when her voice wouldn’t work no matter how hard she tried to make it.

  She cleared her throat and tried again. “I’m done.” Much better. “The program I built is tracing his and we should have a location any minute now.”

  She tried to stand up but dizziness immediately assaulted her.

  “Whoa, there.” Tanner’s arm wrapped around her, and a water bottle was lifted to her mouth. She gratefully drank, then didn’t argue when Tanner forced a candy bar up to her lips.

  “Did everybody make it out of the fire okay?”

  It felt so good to rest against Tanner’s chest as he pulled her against him. “Yes. You, me and Whitaker were the last ones out. Bastard set the whole house to burn.”

  “We’re going to catch him. What I was able to remember was more than enough.”

  He kissed her forehead. “You’re spooky scary when that giant brain of yours gets going. Sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Now that was what she wanted to hear. “Then how about we catch this guy and you take me to the hotel and show me exactly how sexy you think it is.”

  “That would be my pleasure.”

  Bree’s computer chirped. She pushed away from Tanner, ignoring the dizziness.

  “That’s it. We’ve got him.” She turned the computer toward Tanner. “This general area. It will get more specific as we get closer.”

  Tanner took the computer and showed it to the blonde perfect lady. Bree didn’t even try to remember her name this time.

  The blonde nodded and called out to everyone. “Warehouse district on the south side. Let’s move!”

  Tanner helped Bree back into the car. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes open, much less focusing. Whitaker climbed into the back seat and Tanner reached over from the driver’s seat and grabbed her hand, bringing it up to his lips. “I know you’re tired. Hang with us just a few more minutes.”

  She nodded. But the next thing she knew, Tanner was squeezing her hand and shaking her awake.

  “We’re closer, freckles. I need you to give me as much detail about the location as possible.”

  Bree forced herself to focus, clicking the keys to get
the information they needed. The characters were blurry and she had to blink multiple times to get them clear. Finally, she read him an address. Whitaker immediately repeated it over his phone to the other cars.

  “My program isn’t running anymore, so that should be the final address,” she said.

  “This place makes a hell of a lot more sense than a residential neighborhood,” Whitaker responded. “Much more isolated, much easier to move a kidnap victim or body.”

  Bree nodded. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open. “You guys have to be careful. At the very least he knows somebody found his secret room.”

  “But he doesn’t know you figured out what computer he was using,” Tanner said.

  “That’s true. He’ll probably still want to shut everything down, but maybe he thinks he has more time and won’t do anything drastic.”

  Like kill the victim outright.

  Bree couldn’t stand the thought that they might lose her this close to saving her life.

  Five minutes later they were pulling up in front of what looked to be an abandoned warehouse. Bree tried to focus but found herself continuously closing her eyes.

  “You rest now.” Tanner kissed her forehead. “You’ve done your part. Let them do theirs.”

  “You’re not going in?” The thought did not make her sad at all.

  “I’ll do whatever they need me to, but this is Penelope’s call.”

  Penelope. The blonde. Bree’s eyes drifted closed, a scowl on her lips at the other woman’s name.

  * * *

  “IS SHE OUT?” Whitaker asked as he opened the door.

  Tanner got out too. “Yes. Her body is done.”

  They jogged over to the other car parked a few yards from them.

  “SWAT wants us to wait,” Penelope said. “But they are twenty minutes out. We definitely don’t have that kind of time.”

  “Bree says the guy definitely knows we’re onto him. He might not know we’re closing in on him now, but he’s going to be much more wary,” Tanner told them.