Coyote's Revenge

by Vannetta Chapman

  “Tomorrow if you’re not tired of me.”

  “Of course, I’m not.”

  Aiden’s fingers practically twitched to check her computer. It took all his effort to resist the urge to sweep her apartment from top to bottom.

  “I could take it home with me.”

  “Take what?”

  “Your computer.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Sometimes I have trouble sleeping is all.

  “You have to be exhausted.”

  “I’m just saying I could take a look at it.”

  She chewed on her thumbnail and finally nodded. “Okay, I guess. But don’t...you know...make yourself stay awake to do it. Anything wrong with it can wait until the weekend.”

  “Sure. Okay.” He accepted the laptop and carried it to the door.

  Leaning in to kiss her once more, he said goodnight, promised he’d see her in the morning, and walked to his vehicle.

  He wouldn’t risk frightening her.

  He wouldn’t even suggest she was being watched.

  First he’d look for proof.

  But if it was there, he would figure out who had invaded her space and why.

  “IT’S FIXED?” MADISON accepted the coffee and scone first, then the laptop. She was already at her car on the way to school by the time he arrived.

  “Sure is.”

  “Oh. I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought then.”

  Instead of answering, Aiden closed her car door, leaned in to kiss her, and said, “I’ll fix dinner tonight.”

  “After you take care of that to do list?” She pulled an extra apartment key from her purse and handed it to him. “I like you being home.”

  “I’m glad.”

  She kissed him again and offered a backward wave as she drove away.

  Now as he stood drinking his own coffee and thanking heaven he’d asked for the extra shot of espresso, he pulled out his cell phone and punched in Dean’s number.

  “Iceman. What’s up?”

  “I need you to run an IP address. I’m transmitting it to you now.”

  “Got it.”

  “I want most recent physical location as well as when it last received transmissions from the computer address I’m keying in now.”

  “Copy that.”

  Dean clicked off, leaving Aiden staring at Madison’s apartment. He wanted to believe the laptop had been bugged in August when she’d first come to Edgewood. He desperately hoped the laptop was the only thing tagged, but his instincts told him otherwise.

  Slowly and methodically he began taking the apartment apart.

  Ω

  Five hours later Aiden looked at the pile of hardware on Madison’s table, listened to Dean’s voice, and fought an overwhelming urge to put his fist through a wall. Any wall would do.

  If he hadn’t been on an open frequency with most of the central USCIS office he would have at least let loose with a string of profanity. As it was he had to satisfy himself with imagining what he would do to the person who’d bugged Madison’s apartment when he caught him, and he would catch him.

  “Could you have made an error?” he asked.

  “Negative,” Dean said. “Checked it twice.”

  “Well this is one messed up situation then. I’m looking at a dining room table full of surveillance equipment I’ve pulled from virtually every room in Madison’s apartment. Now you’re telling me someone in Montreal has been receiving data from her laptop as recently as last night?”

  “Roger that. 2:45-4:06 a.m.”

  “Which was exactly the time I was on-line tracing the IP address.”

  Aiden collapsed onto the couch, the same couch someone had been watching him and Madison on last night. The thought made him want to draw his weapon and start shooting. Since he couldn’t, or shouldn’t, he did the next best thing. He went ice cold with anger.

  “I assume we’ve already sent agents to the address,” he said.

  “Aiden, this is Martin. Agents Johnson and Trent were already in Montreal. They went to the address two hours ago and found a vacated apartment. We swept it for prints, but so far haven’t found any. Canvassing the neighborhood and interviewing the apartment super hasn’t netted us anything either. The place was rented online to a corporation, paid six months in advance. Corporation is a dead end. No activity reported in the apartment since we pulled the net on Dambusters eleven days ago.”

  “Maybe the monitoring software was set on autopilot,” Dean said. “Whoever was watching Madison, whoever was watching you, was caught in the net.”

  “Who cleaned the apartment then?” Martin asked.

  “Coyote,” Aiden said it quietly.

  “All right,” Martin agreed. “That’s a possibility. He’s highest on our list of Most Wanted. Let’s assume this was a cleanup operation. We’ll comb Montreal, but I suspect he’s gone to ground. I’m putting another agent in Edgewood to watch Madison.”

  “I want Dean.”

  “Agreed.”

  “I’m leaving now,” Dean said.

  “I’ll meet you at the Kalispell Airport.”

  “Watch your back, Aiden.” Martin’s voice suggested something more than concern.

  “Yes, sir.” Aiden clicked off and looked at the clock. He needed to load the table full of spyware into a duffle bag. He needed to complete her list, which shouldn’t take an hour, and he needed to explain why he wouldn’t be home when she got there.

  He fixed everything but the leaking faucet, which required a part he didn’t have. So he scribbled a note telling her he’d left to get the part and that he’d pick her up for dinner later. He carted his toolbox down to the Avalanche, along with the menagerie of spyware, and headed to the ranch.

  DEAN WAS THE LAST MAN off the plane. They exchanged only a nod, waiting until they were beside the Avalanche to speak.

  “You swept it?” Dean asked.

  “Twice.”

  As Aiden started the engine, Dean reached into his backpack, pulled out what looked like a snow globe and placed it on the dashboard.

  “New toy from the guys in ops—a magnetic array displacer. Should hurt their ears if they managed to slip anything inside while my plane landed.” Dean buckled up, pulled a larger box out of his duffel and placed it on the seat. Then he set a smaller gift-wrapped one next to it. “The big one’s for your mansion, the gift wrapped one’s for the lady.”

  Zipping up his pack, he turned to look at his friend. “You look terrible.”

  Aiden accelerated onto the blacktop, taking his frustration out on the road. “Madison told me her computer was acting strangely, so I thought Coyote might have slipped something on there. I had no idea–-”

  “Yeah.”

  They drove in silence awhile, each gearing up for whatever lay ahead.

  “I’d rather move Madison to the ranch,” Aiden said.

  “I gather she doesn’t know about your alter ego yet.”

  “We’re not quite to that point of disclosure in our relationship.”

  “Ah.”

  “And she’s a little old-fashioned.”

  “So staying at her place isn’t an option,” Dean said.

  “No. It’s not.”

  “Gotcha.”

  The sun slipped behind the mountains as Kalispell fell behind them.

  “Aiden, we both know Coyote has probably run down a foxhole and any surveillance was left behind from a previous op.”

  “I read the briefs.”

  Dean nodded.

  “It’s not what my gut is saying,” Aiden said.

  “Mine either.”

  They rode another twenty minutes in silence.

  Ten miles outside of Edgewood, Aiden pulled into the parking lot of a motel and parked next to a somewhat battered Ford Explorer.

  “Your room is 356 on the corner. Good view of the parking lot and Main Street.”

  Dean nodded, accepted the room key and car key Aiden offered.

  “There are three ther
moses of coffee, some sandwiches, and a C.J. Box novel in the passenger seat. Also a burner phone I bought today preprogrammed with the number to my burner phone. No one else has it. Standard equipment in the back seat—night vision goggles, rifle with a scope, a knife, and a Kevlar vest. The car’s equipped with satellite, GPS, and radio with local police channels. Our sheriff’s name is Bonner. He hasn’t been briefed yet. He will be if and when he needs to be. I’ll relieve you at three. There’s a map under the driver’s seat marking your rotation points.”

  Dean offered a grin, then pulled his hat down low. “To old times, man,” and then he was gone.

  On the drive back to Madison’s, Aiden attempted to calm his emotions. He didn’t want to frighten her. He didn’t know how much he should tell her, if anything.

  Madison opened the door as he was about to knock. “Now this is a service I wasn’t expecting.”

  “It’s not flowers, but—”

  “It’s better.”

  Madison accepted the sack of take-out and turned toward the dining area.

  “Wait,” Aiden said.

  “Wait?”

  “I, um, forgot to give you this the other night.” He held out the gift-wrapped box, feeling more than a little foolish.

  “More presents.” She walked back to the front door, apparently unable to resist the allure of wrapping paper. “You shouldn’t have.”

  They both looked in surprise at the snow scene of Glacier National Park.

  “Aiden. It’s precious.”

  She leaned forward, gave him a kiss that had him wanting to skip dinner and pull her into his arms. If that’s what a snow globe earned him—correction—if that’s what a magnetic array displacer earned him, imagine what she’d do with a piece of jewelry.

  “THIS FEELS PERSONAL.” Aiden threw the printouts on the table and reached for the cold coffee.

  Dean checked his weapon, holstered it, then shrugged into his jacket. “Martin says it’s either kids playing a prank or animals setting off the perimeter sensors. There’s nothing to indicate you’ve been tagged or are being watched.”

  Aiden tapped the printouts and the map of his property, “Someone’s trying to find a weak spot in the perimeter security system. They’re doing it at random locations and times to make it look haphazard. Did you upload these results to central?”

  “Yeah. He says it’s a hunch and with the G8 in two weeks, we don’t have men to spare on anyone’s gut feeling.”

  “Someone’s watching her, Dean. I know it. And now they’re trying to connect her to me.”

  “So what are we going to do about it, boss?”

  “We’re going to catch him. I want you stationed in here. I’ll weaken the perimeter sensors where he can break through. When he comes in, I want you to stun him.”

  “And you will be?”

  “Stationed outside.”

  “In case he’s not alone.”

  “Once we’ve confirmed he is alone, we’ll bring him around, extract the information we need from him. Then you can transport him to Martin.”

  “Who will not be happy to see him. What about Madison?”

  “I’ll ask Sharon to babysit.”

  “Sharon? Isn’t she the lawyer you used to date?”

  “Yeah, she’s an expert marksman and won’t hesitate to shoot if she has to.”

  “Sounds like a plan, Iceman. When?”

  “It’ll take me two days to set the trap. Saturday night?”

  “I’ll be here. Until then I’ll continue with the rotations. Edgewood is a pretty quiet town. I’m going to need another novel.”

  “Living room, left bookcase, bottom shelf.”

  “See you at three.”

  Aiden rolled up the plans, stored them in his study, and set his alarm for noon. He needed to see Sharon before golf practice with the team at two thirty, then dinner with Madison at six, and then relieve Dean at three in the morning.

  His last thought before dreams claimed him was that for a retired millionaire, he sure wasn’t getting enough sleep.

  Ω

  Sharon looked up in surprise to see Aiden leaning against the open door of her office.

  “Afternoon, beautiful.”

  Moving across the room, she pulled him into her office without a word, only stopping to leave directions with the secretary in the outer office.

  “Brad, hold my calls while I’m with Mr. Lewis.”

  “What about your one o’clock?”

  “Put Ms. Tramsley in the conference room, give her coffee and pastries, and have John start going over the depositions. I’ll join them as soon as I can.”

  She shut the door before he could ask anything else.

  Aiden flopped into an armchair and gave her his best cowboy smile. “How are you, sweetheart? I haven’t seen you in ages. You have a new secretary, and he’s more handsome than me.”

  “Save the charm, Aiden. It won’t work. I’m not interested. Besides, I’ve been worried. What is this about you being shot? And why haven’t you called? I don’t want to sound like Nate, but you’re making me feel like a nag. If it weren’t for Madison, I wouldn’t even know you were back in town.”

  Sharon sat back in the two-thousand-dollar leather chair and let its comfort, well, comfort her. Aiden was happy to see her doing so well professionally, and he was sorry to have worried her, not that he could do anything about it.

  “You look terrible. Madison said you look great. Is she stupid or so in love she’s blind?”

  “Ouch. Thank you for the compliments and the concern.” Aiden sank lower in the chair, dropped the charm and the fake energy. “Madison is why I’m here, Sharon. I need a favor.”

  Sharon waited, one eyebrow raised.

  “I need you to babysit her on Saturday for me.”

  “Babysit?”

  “Yes, and don’t tell her I asked you to do it. Take her to some place public, or to your place. I don’t care where. But she can’t go back to her apartment until you receive a call from me. It might be late.”

  “I don’t suppose I should ask why.”

  “It would be better if you didn’t, then I wouldn’t have to lie to you.”

  Sharon steepled her fingers. ”All right, Aiden. Anything else?”

  “There is one other thing.” He stood, stretched, walked around to her side of the desk. When he squatted down in front of her, he knew he had her full attention. “You still have your handgun?”

  “Of course.”

  “Be sure you keep it close.”

  “YOU DON’T THINK IT’S odd she would call?” Madison asked, pausing to look through her binoculars.

  “Now why would I think it’s odd?” Aiden stopped beside her, thought of looking through his own binoculars, but decided he preferred the view of her to whatever she might be looking at.

  “Sharon never calls me.”

  “Maybe Bix is out of town.”

  “That’s what Sharon said, but she doesn’t seem like the girlfriend type. What did you say you had to do tonight?”

  “Nothing really, sweetheart. But you two go ahead and have fun. I’ll stay home and watch some golf film, prepare for the boys’ next meet.”

  “Did you make that up, or is there really such a thing as golf film?” Madison turned to look at him.

  “I made it up,” he admitted.

  Madison nodded and raised her binoculars again.

  “Aiden, is that an elk over there?”

  “Probably, or it could be a deer, dear.”

  She punched him in the arm, his good arm, then reached for her water.

  “I love hiking.”

  “I do too. I especially love that you drove up here this time.”

  Madison made a face, screwed the top back on her water, and resumed walking. “I still had a few queasy moments though.”

  “But you kept driving, and you almost reached the speed limit.” Aiden stopped and looked out over Edgewood. From the slopes of Big Mountain, it looked like a quaint little vil
lage. “I think the traffic jam has actually started to unwind.”

  She threw herself on him with enough force to land him in the leaves on his backside.

  “If it weren’t for Old Man Jackson, I’d say we stay here and smooch a bit.”

  “Oh, you would?” She tilted her head, a mischievous look in her eyes he’d seen before. “I thought Jackson passed us twenty minutes ago.”

  While he was trying to remember if she was right, Madison jumped up and danced ahead of him on the trail. “Or maybe you’re too old for hiking and you’re looking for an excuse. Maybe the cowboy isn’t up to it anymore.”

  When he took off after her, she moved even more quickly around the bend. He had to push to catch up with her, which was a testament to how much she had acclimated to the altitude, and how little time he had spent in the gym.

  He caught her near a boulder by the trail, tackled her gently, and kissed her.

  “Are you going to behave now?” he asked.

  “Maybe.”

  “Are you going to quit running ahead?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Tell me why.”

  “Oh, Aiden.”

  “Tell me the rules,” he nibbled on her neck, making her squeal. “Tell me.”

  “Hikers should always stay in sight of each other.”

  “Tell me the other rule. The most important one.”

  She was gasping now, trying to squirm out of his grasp. “Which one is that?”

  “Tell me.”

  “How does it start?”

  “You know.”

  “Never—”

  “Never what?”

  “Never hike alone.”

  And then she melted out of his grasp like butter. But once out, she only turned, reached for his hand, and held it as they ascended the last of the trail.

  “Hike down or ride the gondola?” he asked, looking out at the sunset. It had been a perfect Saturday.

  “Gondola.”

  “Gondola it is, then.”

  Riding down the mountain, Aiden couldn’t help wondering what he’d find that night. Clouds were moving in from the west, promising rain before nightfall. From the looks of it, they were in for a good storm. Reaching for Madison’s hand, he entwined his fingers with hers.

  “Promise me you girls will be careful.”