by S. E. Rose
“Nope, just this one.”
He nods.
I walk back to my office and unlock a closet and pull out my backup laptop. I pop in the hard drive.
“Good as new,” I say.
“Good, ’cause you’re leaving tonight.”
I freeze mid-step. “What?”
“We’ve had a change of plans. You’re leaving tonight, and I’m having my top agent escort you.”
“But…I…,” I stammer as I try to catch up to his plan.
“Jesse, whoever broke in here means business. You were attacked. It’s no longer about threats and stealing. It’s not safe here and I’m not fucking around with this. I take my company seriously and that means I take your safety seriously. I have a plane on standby. I am still having your doppelgänger fill in for you tomorrow and then go to D.C. We’ll make the switch at your apartment and then use the service elevator to get you to a waiting car that I have already left in the garage there.,” He pauses and looks at me with a more serious glint in his eyes. “You know, just in case. Anyhow, I have a plane ready to go and you’ll be in Moorea tomorrow. Are you sure you’re OK?”
I nod. I know I probably should get checked out more, but there’s nothing that they can do for me anyhow even if I do have a concussion. I just need to rest. I look around afraid that he’s being listened to and when I turn to face him he shakes his head. “I had my folks sweep and remove the bugs in here.”
I nod and run my fingers through my hair. “Fine. Let’s go.”
I follow him down to a waiting car and we head back to my apartment.
Bryce takes my burner phone and removes the back. He places a bug in it and then hands it back to me.
“Seriously?” I ask him as a driver takes us to my apartment.
“This links to a special system I have. If you go off grid at all, it will alert me. I need you to text me if you leave Moorea,” he commands. Normally, I’m not good at taking directions from others, but I yield to his demand and nod my head.
“Good. Vanessa’s phone has one too.”
“Can I take my phone?” I ask him.
“Yes, but we’re going to disable the normal tracking from it. It’ll work for Wi-Fi purposes only and the apps should work as well.”
I nod. “Fine.”
“You aren’t to log in to social media at all. No checking messages, emails, nothing with the outside world except to contact Jack or me with that burner phone, understand?”
“Yes,” I sigh as I pinch the bridge of my nose. I feel a headache coming on and I’m fairly certain it doesn’t have anything to do with the knock on the head I had earlier.
We pull up to my apartment, but on the back side. Bryce ushers me into the service elevator, and we access my apartment the back way. Inside are two of Bryce’s men.
“This is Baxter Mallory and Riley Bennigan. They are going to handle things for you. Riley will act as your double since he clearly looks more like you. And Bax will be your new agent. Pierce is on administrative leave.”
“Is Pierce alright?” I ask.
“Yes, he’ll be fine, but on a case like this I need my guys at top performance and Pierce took quite a blow to the head. Plus, he’ll pretend to be here with Riley to keep up pretenses. Silas and Dexter will accompany him to D.C. We still have you scheduled to fly to D.C. tomorrow.”
I nod my understanding and shake hands with Baxter and Riley before heading to my room and packing my bag. I quickly debrief Riley on my normal routine at home and then make my way back to my living room where Bryce is on the phone. I introduce him to Evelyn and they stop me, explaining that they have already met and Evelyn’s already been debriefed along with Gianni. Of course, Evelyn sheds a few tears and looks me over before giving me a hug and telling me to be careful. I assure her I will be.
“I’m ready,” I announce.
“Alright, I filled Rick in on everything. I think you probably ought to call him soon. He’s freaking the fuck out,” Bryce says as he stands and surveys my apartment. “This really is a nice place.”
“Thanks,” I mutter.
“OK, Bax and you are going to head to this jet I have on standby and then I’ll be in touch. Any word from your friend Walsh about the files?”
“Nope,” I say and then nervously glance around hoping my place isn’t bugged.
“Don’t worry, I have your place swept daily. We’re good.”
I relax slightly. “No, Walsh is working on it, but so far nothing.”
Bryce nods. “I know Jack has guys on it too, but, well, to be perfectly honest, Walsh is in a league of his own. I know the CIA wanted him badly, too bad he won’t come over to the good side.”
I roll my eyes. “Walsh isn’t one to commit.”
Bryce laughs. “Well, maybe someday I can talk him into working for me. Gallagher Security is like Switzerland, we don’t take sides.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “Right…so are we good or is there anything else I should debrief with you on?”
“Nope,” he answers. He hands me the backup laptop I took from my office. “It’s clean. You can take it with you, just don’t use it except on Wi-Fi.”
I nod and place it in my carry-on. We walk with Baxter down to another waiting car. Riley gives me a wave.
“Good luck,” I tell him.
“To you too, man. I got this, no worries for you about anything here. Go enjoy your…uh…vacation?” he says, and I laugh and slap him on the back.
“Right,” I say slowly as I get into the car.
I call Rick on the way to the airport from my burner phone.
“Oh Jesus, how are you?”
“Fine, and to be clear it’s me, not Jesus,” I laugh.
“Fuck you, Jesse, you scared the shit out of me,” he says and I can hear the concern in his voice.
“I’m fine, really. I’m leaving now. Some guy named Riley will be…filling in for me,” I say.
“I know. Bryce called and explained everything. Just go, don’t worry about a thing. I got this,” he says.
“I know you do.” I pause. “And, Rick…thanks.” I want to say something more profound like “you’re my right-hand man” or “you’re more than just my PA, you’re one of my best friends” or some sentimental BS like that, but I’m a chicken-shit with my feelings so I pussy out of it.
“You’re welcome,” he says after a beat. “Go see Vanessa and we’ll talk later.”
“Be careful, Rick,” I tell him.
“I will,” he says, and we hang up.
I stare out the window as we drive to the airport. Bryce sits up front with the driver and Baxter is sitting next to me. I feel like a caged animal and I just want to get the fuck out of here.
A lone plane sits in the hangar we pull up to, and we get out and walk over to it. It’s very similar to mine, one model removed.
“Well, this is where I leave you,” Bryce says. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks, Bryce,” I say, and I shake his hand. He pulls out his phone and taps it and I pull out my burner phone and nod. We don’t need any words to convey our messages.
He nods and goes back to the car. Baxter follows me to the plane, and we board. A young stewardess takes my drink order and I make myself comfortable for the agonizingly long flight. Somewhere over the continental U.S., I fall fast asleep and dream of blonde hair and big blue eyes and that brings me more peace than I’ve had in weeks.
I wake in the early morning and watch as the sky gets lighter. The stewardess sees I’m awake and comes over and offers me food and drink.
“Just a coffee and a bagel,” I say.
“Coming up,” she says and is back with my request before I can blink.
I sit in silence and watch the sun. Baxter is sitting across from me reading a book. I glance over and see it’s a classic, Oliver Twist. I can’t help it, I’m curious.
“Oliver Twist, huh?” I ask him, nodding toward the book.
He smirks. “Well, there’s this girl…” He
trails off giving me a knowing look and laugh.
“I see.” I smirk back at him. I wave my hand. “Proceed. I don’t want to come in the way of true love.”
He laughs and puts his nose back in the book. I like this guy, I think to myself. Not that Pierce isn’t good, but there’s a level of personality to Baxter that just seems like he’d be fun to drink a beer with sometime. Is that appropriate to do with a paid security guy? I contemplate that for a few minutes as I eat my bagel. My burner phone pings, and I look down. It’s a text from Walsh.
Walsh: Holy Fuck…holy fuck…holy fuck!
Jesse: WTF?
Walsh: We need to talk…NOW!
Jesse: Call me.
My phone rings. I pick up immediately.
“What?”
“HOLY FUCK!” he exclaims.
“WHAT?!!”
“I cracked the code, and this is…this is crazy shit, dude!! Seriously, I haven’t seen anything like this before. It’s like the guy who came up with this type of embedding just upped his game, but that dude died like three years ago, so I know it’s not him,” Walsh says, his sentences pouring out in rapid fire. I’m wondering how many cups of coffee he’s had.
“And?”
Walsh takes a deep breath. “This embedding in these files…it’s more than just pieces embedded throughout different files that come together, it’s like these files are live. They are linking to some level of the dark web that I’ve never seen. Shit, I didn’t even know such a level existed. The data is constantly changing, altering. This data, it connects servers across the world. It’s like a key that unlocks a whole system of worldwide servers and brings them together in a way I’ve never seen or even fathomed. This is…well, shit, it’s just plain fucking insane. My mind is like totally blown.”
“What does this mean though?” I ask him.
“It means, you need to see this. I can’t even explain it. This is live data, dude, LIVE!!” He gets more excited with each word he speaks.
“You need to tell Jack and Bryce, pronto,” I tell him.
“Yeah, I know, but I wanted you to know first since these fuckers are messing with you. I mean shit, now I know why.”
“But, why would they have something so important saved on a damn USB drive?” I contemplate out loud.
“Dude, I’m just speculating here, but you’d have to fuck up pretty big to only have this on one USB drive or you meant to only have it on one drive. You know like ‘one ring to rule them all.’ I’m kind of thinking the latter. If this Mohammed dude was king of his realm, then it makes sense he has that nuclear option in his back pocket, right? You know, like the President has that stupid box that he carries with him everywhere,” Walsh says.
I’m silent for a long beat, as I consider what he’s saying.
“Wow, shit, that’s crazy. So, the fact that I have this file…” I trail off. “Wait, but Jack has the original USB drive.”
“No shit, dude, but think about it. A) if Jack has it, the CIA has it, so we know that’s gonna be hard to get back and B) do you even know if the CIA still has it? For all we know, it could have been destroyed or damaged,” Walsh concludes.
I send Jack a text to inquire. “I’m asking Jack,” I say to Walsh as I hit send on the text.
A minute later, Jack texts back.
Jack: Copy sent to me was deleted, but the USB drive is in a VERY safe location.
“Walsh, the original drive is with the CIA,” I say.
He sighs. “Well, then I’m going with your copy is the only one accessible, so that’s why you are in the crosshairs, my friend. There’s got to be only two copies left in the world, and you, my friend, have one…well…I guess I have one now too, but let’s keep that shit between us. I don’t need no freakin’ international criminals hunting my ass down.”
I laugh through my nerves. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“I just sent my findings to Jack and Bryce. I’ll follow up with you when you land in a few hours,” Walsh says.
“Talk to you soon,” I say, and we disconnect.
The next few hours seem to take days. I squirm in my seat. Eventually, the flight attendant stops in front of me and sets down a tumbler of scotch. I look up at her. She looks to be a few years older than I am. She’s not wearing a wedding ring. She gives me a warm smile.
“You look like you could use this,” she says and motions to the drink.
“Thanks,” I mutter, trying to force a smile and I take a long sip of the drink. It’s actually a really good scotch and I’m a bit surprised she has it on the airplane, even with it being a private jet.
She gives me a wink. “Mr. Gallagher left it on board for you.”
I can’t help but laugh out loud. Shit, that bastard really is good, I think to myself as I continue to sip the drink. After all that fighting Jack and Rick, I have to admit that hiring Bryce Gallagher may have been the best decision I ever made. And having an emergency landing in French Polynesia may have been the best accident that ever occurred in my life.
I stew on these thoughts and continue to sip my beverage while stealing glances at Baxter who is quite frankly enraptured with his book. I find him to be a little bit of an oxymoron. He appears like an oversized meathead, probably ex-football player and then he’s sitting here reading a classic novel while sipping on…I look again…yep, while sipping on chocolate milk.
I shake my head and Baxter looks up from his book.
“Problem, Mr. Ryder?” he asks me with raised eyebrows.
“Nope, not at all, Baxter. Enjoying your chocolate milk?” I ask him with a smirk.
He grins. “Yes, sir.”
I try to stymie a laugh and fail horribly. He gives me another shit-eating grin.
“Don’t knock it till you try it,” he says.
I shake my head. “Uh, yeah. I have tried it in like kindergarten.”
I hold up my scotch. “I realize you’re working and all, but this plane won’t be landing for at least three more hours. Sure I can’t tempt you with a ‘big boy’ beverage?” I ask him.
He laughs and shakes his head. “I don’t drink, sir,” he says. I ponder that for a long moment.
“Like ever?”
“Like ever.”
“Interesting,” I say scratching my chin. “Allergies, religion, addiction or life circumstances?” I ask him.
“Well, Bryce doesn’t hire alcoholics,” he says. “And religion and politics don’t mix well especially on some of the jobs I have to do. And I have to be medically cleared for my job.”
“Ahhh…so life circumstances it is,” I deduce.
He nods, giving away nothing.
“Baxter, I must admit. I find you to be an intriguing person,” I say, and he looks at me and then my drink and I laugh. “I swear, it’s not the drink talking. I just wonder how someone who looks like they could take down all of the New York Giants single-handedly can also sit on a plane drinking chocolate milk of all things while reading a classic novel.”
He puts a bookmarker in his book and contemplates this for a long moment. “Sir, may I speak freely?” he asks.
“No, please lie to me, I really like that,” I sneer while rolling my eyes.
He rolls his eyes back at me. “Honestly, I’m used to people taking one look at me and thinking there goes a big dumb jock. I might look like that and I may have played rugby when I was younger, but I can promise you I am not a dumb jock. In fact, I’ll have you know I have a master’s degree in ancient Greek philosophy.”
My eyes widen, and I wonder if he’s shitting me.
“Most people look at a book by its cover, sir. That’s a big mistake. Always expect the unexpected,” he adds and then he rolls up his sleeve and hot damn if those exact words aren’t tattooed on his forearm.
“Baxter, I think you and I will get along just fine,” I say. “Not that Pierce and I didn’t,” I explain further feeling I need to do that.
He nods. “Bryce said the same thing to me.”
&nb
sp; I drink some more scotch and wonder why Bryce thought that.
“So, are you actually reading that for a girl?” I ask him, trying to make conversation so the time passes faster and I’m not thinking of worst-case scenarios in my head.
He laughs. “In this case, yes, although I have read it before, a long time ago.”
“I read it too for school, years ago. It’s a good book.” What the fuck am I doing? Yes, Jesse, let’s start some sort of book club with your hired security guard, great plan, asswipe.
Baxter examines me for a moment. “So, your friend cracked the code, huh?” Well, shit, this guy doesn’t beat around the bush.
“Uh, yeah. I guess Bryce debriefed you on that already, huh?” I ask him, and he nods. Either that or he overheard me speaking to Walsh. “It’s pretty intense. I’m not sure what it all means, and I won’t till I can see what Walsh is seeing. However, I need to get a secured Wi-Fi connection before I can do that.”
“I have a secured hotspot connection you can use once we land,” Baxter says. “Sir, you should know that one of my specialties is computer programming.”
My eyes must bug out of my head.
He chuckles. “Let’s just say I had a misspent youth gaming,” he adds as explanation.
“Alrighty then,” I say. “Well, we’ll see what we have when we land later. You know, Baxter, you’re starting to scare me a little.”
He smirks. “Good, I like to keep the clients on their toes.”
He goes back to reading and I go back to drinking and thinking and staring out the window into the clouds. A minute later I hear the familiar sound of unzipping and I turn my head just in time to see a book fly in my direction.
“Here, you look bored,” Baxter says.
I look down and laugh. A Tale of Two Cities sits on my lap.
“Well, when you can’t beat them…,” I say with a laugh and I open the first page and start reading. At some point I must fall asleep, because the next thing I know Baxter is tapping me on the shoulder.
“We’ve landed, Mr. Ryder,” he says.
“Oh, thanks, Baxter. I’ll just pack up,” I say.
Chapter 22
