by Steve Hadden
In the silent darkness, the crunch of their footsteps on the new-fallen snow sounded loud enough to give away their location. She realized that her heightened senses amplified everything, and she shoved her worry aside. While only a few inches deep, the snow soaked her sneakers, and put her feet into a deep freeze. She tucked her hands inside the sleeves of her sweatshirt to preserve feeling in her fingers so she could handle her gun when needed.
Up ahead, light from the house filtered through the trees. The light intensified as they advanced. Seconds later, Harrison stopped behind a thick evergreen and waved her up. She peeked around a limb and spotted the house perched on the steep slope. A four-foot split-rail fence reinforced with black chain link bordered the yard. About thirty yards of snow-covered lawn lay between the fence and the back deck. A covered footbridge jutted from the house and connected a large room. The wall that faced them was all glass. Inside she saw dimly silhouetted furniture. Kayla squinted, straining to examine the home through the heavy snow. Finally, she saw two bullet cameras, one on the corner of the house and the other above the door on the deck. A smile drifted across her face when she saw the window and door of a finished walkout basement just to the left of the deck. She put her hand into the pocket of her sweatshirt and confirmed that the four rocks and the wrist rocket were still there.
Harrison turned to her. She saw the commitment in his eyes. “We’ll get to her, Kayla. I promise you.”
Kayla kissed Harrison’s cold cheek. “Thank you.”
He looked at Kayla, gently nodding his head and softly smiling. He glanced at the house then back at her. “Ready?” he asked.
She nodded. “Over the corner of the fence, then halfway up. There should be an entrance to the crawl space under the deck. We go in there.”
Growing up in Issaquah, Kayla was familiar with the crawl spaces on sloped mountainside lots in the area. They typically provided access beneath the first living floor and had another access point into the basement under the house. If they could get under the deck undetected, she could get them inside to interrogate Lewis and find Emily.
In an instant, they’d cleared the fence and stopped twenty yards from the house. She knelt in the snow, pulled out the homemade wrist rocket and loaded the first rock. Until she’d taken the practice shots at the rental house, she hadn’t fired one since she was fourteen. But it came back quickly. Pulling the rock back in its rubber cradle, she eyed the corner camera and fired. The rock ricocheted off the fascia just to the right of the camera. Harrison looked over wide-eyed, clearly frustrated by the miss. Ignoring him, she took the second rock, fired and obliterated the camera lens. She gave Harrison an I-told-you-so grin, then watched and listened for any response inside. Quickly, she repeated the process and took out the deck camera on the first shot. Tossing the slingshot aside, she led Harrison under the deck.
Once concealed by the deck, she pulled out her phone and illuminated the flashlight. The access door was straight ahead, framed by the stone façade. She made her way to the short square door and squatted. Harrison stopped behind her and checked for any movement in the yard. Kayla grabbed the simple brass doorknob and hoped it wasn’t alarmed or locked. None of her friend’s houses were, but they weren’t billionaires. She turned and tapped Harrison on the shoulder, then turned back and twisted the knob. The latch released but the door didn’t. She leaned into it and it creaked and popped open. She held her breath and listened. There was no alarm and no response from inside.
The crawl space was dark with a low ceiling and thick plastic sheeting on the ground. Unable to stand under the low ceiling, she waddled and led Harrison to what she guessed was the center of the dark space, then scanned the area with her light. Then she saw it. The second access door probably led into the furnace room in the basement. She moved quickly and stopped at the door. There was no handle. Harrison moved beside her and shrugged the backpack off his shoulders. He pulled out the large claw hammer he’d taken from the rental and wedged the claw into the jamb. He nodded to Kayla. Doing all she could to harness the arcing power filling every synapse in her body, she pulled out her Glock and cocked it.
Harrison whispered, “One, two, three!”
The door popped open and Kayla led with her gun and jumped through the opening. She hit the bare concrete floor and immediately saw the furnace, the water heater, some piping, and a door that led into the walkout basement. Harrison was already inside the small room behind her, armed. She leaned against the door. She couldn’t hear anything over the hum of the furnace. Unsure if anyone waited on the other side, she knew they’d have to go in blind. Harrison joined her at the door and pointed his gun toward the knob. He nodded. Kayla gripped the doorknob with her left hand and targeted the doorway with the gun in her right hand.
She counted to three and opened the door. The room was dark, and she spotted shiny black built-in bookshelves packed with books. An ebony desk sat in the middle of the room. In the weak light, she noticed the stairway straight ahead. Harrison gripped her elbow as he silently passed and started up the stairs. They’d agreed to this maneuver in case a security guard was waiting for them at the top of the stairs. If Harrison got shot, Kayla would take the guard out.
At the top of the stairs, Harrison cracked the door, then opened it wide enough to slip through. After a quick look, he turned back and motioned Kayla to advance. They entered a hallway that was connected to the garage to the right and intersected another hallway to the left that went in two directions: one to the front of the house and the other to the covered walkway. After turning left, they reached that intersection. Harrison signaled her he was going right, toward the front of the house, and Kayla pointed her gun to the left.
She moved quickly down the footbridge, her pulse still hammering in her ears with each step. She told herself she wasn’t afraid and took a quiet breath. Her life meant nothing to her. This was about saving Emily. When she reached the entrance to what she guessed was Lewis’s home office, she stopped in the shadows and hid behind the thick millwork bordering the doorway. She waited and looked back toward the front of the house. A thud said Harrison was right. The guard was at the front of the house and Harrison had neutralized him. She plunged into the room and suddenly came face-to-face with a shocked Neville Lewis. A primal wildness she’d never felt before overtook her and she pressed the gun against his forehead. “Nice to meet you, asshole.”
CHAPTER 63
Using the barrel of the gun against his forehead, Kayla pushed Lewis backward toward a side chair in front of his desk. His eyes were wide and glazed, and that look of terror brought Kayla great pleasure. A single desk lamp illuminated the room, and the sharp angles of the modern décor had an amber glow that reminded her of Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings of hell. Reaching the side chair, she spun the chair to face her.
“Sit.” She stood over him as he sat. She moved the gun from his forehead and pressed it against his cheek.
She heard footsteps and glanced back to see Harrison enter the office. “That guy won’t be bothering us for a while,” he said as he walked up beside Kayla.
“What are you doing here?” Lewis’s tone conveyed confidence. “You know you’re both wanted.”
Kayla ignored him. She shoved the gun deeper into his cheek. “Where is my daughter?”
Lewis seemed to make some connection with the question, but it wasn’t the reaction she’d expected.
“Is that why you’re here?” He pushed himself upright in the chair. “I had nothing to do with that.”
Kayla leaned in closer. “You’re lying. I know you were involved. You killed my team and blew up the lab.” She tossed a nod in Harrison’s direction. “And you killed his best friend.”
“I had nothing to do with that.” This time there was more protest in his tone.
Harrison went around Kayla and got behind the chair. He shoved his gun into his waistband, grabbed Lewis’s arms and pinned them behind him. “Now, when I lift your wrist, it will dislocate your elbow.”<
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Lewis’s confidence collapsed. “Stop. Stop! I’m not lying.”
“Wait,” Kayla said to Harrison. “I have another idea.” She reached out her hand in front of Lewis. “Give me your phone. Unlocked.”
Harrison released one arm and Lewis shook it. Staring at Kayla, Lewis slowly reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone and held it toward his face to unlock it. He handed the phone to Kayla. With her thumb, she scrolled through the apps. Then she saw it. She opened SZENSOR. The top half of the screen was an inset for the camera. The bottom was a dashboard that included two indicator bars, one green for true, the other red for untrue. Lewis’s expression flattened as he seemed to ready himself for the interrogation. Kayla lifted the phone and targeted Lewis’s face in the app.
“Now. Where is my daughter?”
Lewis waited. Clearly trying to fool the technology. Then he said flatly, “I don’t know.”
Kayla looked at the dashboard and her heart plummeted. All green, no red. She pointed the phone at Lewis again. “Where is Emily Covington?”
This time Lewis smiled. “I don’t know.”
All green.
Harrison looked at Kayla and gave her his What gives? expression. Kayla didn’t want to believe her eyes. Either Lewis had beat the technology or he didn’t have Emily. She lifted the phone again. “Did you have anything to do with the killing of my team and the destruction of my lab?”
Lewis’s smile instantly disappeared. He stayed silent. Harrison seized his free hand and levered it behind Lewis. Lewis winced. “I didn’t do it.”
SZENSOR registered all red. Kayla glanced at Harrison and wagged her head. This asshole had killed her team and he had to have something to do with Emily’s kidnapping.
“You son of a bitch!” She jammed the gun against his temple and readied to fire.
He dropped his head, staring at the floor, avoiding eye contact with Kayla. “Don’t do it,” he pleaded. “Please don’t do it. I have a son and a daughter.”
Kayla kept the Glock pressed against his head, trembling. “So did those people you killed.” She wanted to fire. The killing didn’t bother her. It would be righteous. The consequences for her meant nothing. She was dead anyway unless they recovered the treatments. But she remembered this was about Emily now.
Lewis broke down and sobbed. “I’ll tell you. But please don’t kill me.”
Kayla relieved some of the pressure on the gun but kept it against his temple. She aimed the phone at Lewis again. “Go.”
“You’re threatening the human race. That gene editing is dangerous, and you know it.”
All green. The asshole actually believed his own bullshit.
“You’re still going to spout that crap while I have this gun to your head?”
“It’s true.”
All green again.
“My technology is safe. We have precision that’s been proven in every animal trial we’ve conducted. And I’ll bet you didn’t know that all the participants in the trial were sterile? Just as a safety net. It’s unnecessary, but the government wanted to be sure.” Surprise flashed onto Neville’s face. But there was something else there. Kayla had seen it from the beginning. It was more than dislike. It was something in his eyes. “What else?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
All red. And she could see Lewis knew the technology had caught him in a lie again.
She pressed the gun harder against his head. “What else?”
Lewis thrust his head into the gun and locked his hooded eyes on Kayla. “You and your tinkering with God’s work killed my mother!”
Harrison’s mouth opened. Kayla shifted her attention to the screen. All green. “The older lady,” Kayla said softly. “She died with Joshua.” The raging torrent she’d wanted to unleash on Lewis drained out of her, and she pulled the gun from his head.
“Kayla?” Harrison said, still restraining Lewis.
Kayla couldn’t respond. Remorse seized her and pulled her under as she struggled to breath. She’d tried to find a family member of the old woman to offer her apologies at the time. She knew the feeling of losing someone so close. For a moment, she wasn’t in the room. She was at the hospital listening to the countdown of her son’s heart.
“Kayla.” Harrison yelled this time. “Emily.”
That brought her back. Emily. She felt the gun in her hand and jammed it back into Lewis’s cheek.
“Who helped you? Who did it?”
With tears running down his cheeks, Lewis looked up, defeated. “It was—”
A pounding from the front of the house was punctuated by a deep voice. “FBI”
CHAPTER 64
Kayla raced across the office and stopped at the doorway leading to the hall and the front door. The FBI was coming in whether she let them in or not. It was over for her. Once in custody there was no hope of saving herself. But there was no reason for anyone else to die. She looked back at Harrison as he tied Neville to the chair with a lamp cord. He’d done everything she’d asked and more. He’d lost his best friend and risked his own life and freedom for her. He’d always loved her. She’d been just too damaged to see it. But she wouldn’t ask him to kill a federal agent or die trying to save her.
“I’m surrendering,” she said. Her words washed over her and leached out what little fight was left in her. The cost was too high, and she was out of time. But while she succumbed to the deflating thought, her desperation to find Emily intensified. She saw the mix of sadness and relief on Harrison’s face as he nodded, laid his Glock on the floor and dropped to his knees. The FBI at the door was now her last hope. She made her way to the entry, laid her Glock on the white marble floor and kicked it to the corner.
“We’re surrendering. I’m opening the door now.” She raised one hand, opened the door with the other and was face-to-face with an armored SWAT agent who ordered her to lie facedown on the floor. She was cuffed instantly, and the other agents flooded in, shouting and clearing the rooms.
Moments later, she heard someone yell, “All clear.”
Then a deep voice above her said, “Get her up.”
She was lifted to her feet. She recognized Special Agent in Charge Reed from the photo in Sienna’s article. His deep brown eyes and taut jaw conveyed a certainty that oddly comforted her. While he had a thin wiry build and surfer-boy blond hair, his stance said he was clearly in charge. As they came face-to-face, Reed stopped and examined Kayla’s face. She was sure she didn’t look anything like the forty-eight-year-old pictured in her driver’s license.
“My God,” Reed said as he turned to the tall young agent behind him, “it works.” The tall agent stepped closer, joining in the examination of her face. He nodded in agreement.
He was right. Kayla could feel it. Her newfound strength, vanished crow’s feet and surging energy were all traits of a woman in her mid-thirties.
“You’re a hard woman to find,” he said as a glimmer of a smile appeared. “Special Agent in Charge Reed.”
A SWAT agent appeared. “Sir, he’s back here.”
“Let’s see what you’ve found,” Reed said to Kayla. With her hands still cuffed behind her, he gently took her upper arm and led her down the hallway.
“You have to help me find my daughter,” she said as they walked. “We have to find Emily. Lewis said he was behind the killings at my lab.” Reed remained silent as they entered the office. Harrison was facedown on the floor, flanked by two more SWAT members, and Neville had his hands bound behind him, standing next to a taller, younger agent.
“Help Mr. Clarke up and uncuff him, please,” Reed said.
“It’s about time you got here,” Lewis said. “They broke in and were about to kill me. Arrest them.”
“Sorry, Mr. Lewis,” Reed said. “That’s just not going to happen.”
All color drained from Lewis’s face.
Reed let go of Kayla, turned her around and uncuffed her. “Dr. Covington, why are you and Mr. Clarke here?”
“Sienna Fuller received coded messages that led us to this address after she started to cover the story. We figured out that this pig was behind it all and I came here to find Emily. You interrupted our conversation. He was just about to tell us who was helping him.”
Reed turned to Lewis. “Where is Mr. Wagner?”
Lewis stayed silent.
Reed strolled past Lewis and walked to the fireplace on the far wall. He pointed to the gold vase on the mantel. “Is this your mother?”
A scowl twisted Lewis’s face. “Don’t touch her.”
“Her name was Penelope, wasn’t it?” Reed said patiently. “Penelope Gladwell.”
Reed’s questions buoyed Kayla’s hope. The FBI had made the connection, too.
Lewis remained still.
“So it’s not Jane Crandall. Right?” Reed said.
Kayla could see defeat in Lewis’s wide eyes. “She died in the trial with my son,” she said.
Reed cocked his head toward Kayla. “How do you know that?”
“I used SZENSOR against him,” she said. “He just told me.”
“Tough lady.” Reed nodded and walked back to Lewis. “Look, Mr. Lewis, we know you’re involved. We know part of your motive and any idiot can guess the rest. That makes you a domestic terrorist. So you’ve failed. But we need to recover the treatment and the data you stole. We also need Emily back unharmed. You’ve done lots of good things in your life—do one more. It might help you down the road.”