Nathan turned to his left and watched Quinn smirk at him. The urge to wipe it off his face grew. He looked back at Eli and said, “Singh hasn’t shown me the case against me yet, but he told me the investigation was Logue’s suggestion.”
Eli scoffed. “And you believed him? Singh is who you can’t trust.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Nathan said, “Singh must have something, or I wouldn’t be here. And who else would he get it from?”
“How about your new partner?” Eli suggested.
Nathan shuffled his feet and gripped the steel bars. “What new partner?”
“Don’t be coy with me, Nate. I know you’re working with King. What I don’t know is why?”
“It’s not important.”
Eli laughed under his breath. “Given your current predicament, why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
Nathan gritted his teeth. “She’s helping me go after the bastard who took a shot at me. Something Logue refused to do.”
“She’s helping you?” Eli said doubtfully, “Have you considered how this looks? Logue told the world King ordered a hit on you, and now you’re working together?”
“I don’t like him,” Quinn said, “but the man has a point.”
Eli said, “Seems like maybe Logue isn’t the one who can’t be trusted.”
Nathan’s knuckles whitened around the bars. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Eli pointed a finger at him through the bars. “By working with her, you’re selling Logue down the river.”
Nathan slammed his left palm against a bar. His eyes narrowed. “If anyone sold someone out its Logue.”
“Because he wouldn’t help you go after your attacker?”
Nathan glanced at the guard eyeing them. Resting his forehead against the bars, Nathan said, “Because he gave Singh Identchip tracking data placing me with Leo on the day he died.”
Eli shook his head. “Says who? Singh? Think about it, Nate. He’s full of shit.” He lowered his voice an octave, “We scrambled Leo’s chip and, if the data existed, it would place Logue there as well. Why would he ever give that to Singh?”
The guard across the room hollered, “Case number F105713, people versus Nathan Miller. Step forward, you’re on deck.”
Nathan said, “I don’t have all the answers, but to find them I need to get out of here. Can I count on you?”
Eli shrugged. “Of course. Keep the extra money though, I have something else in mind.” Nathan stepped back and waited. “Your new best friend has a ledger I want.”
Quinn whispered in Nathan’s ear, “And the plot thickens.”
Nathan stared at Eli. A guard rapped his baton on the bars and motioned for Nathan to move to the far side. Nathan asked, “Mickey’s ledger? Why do you want it?”
Eli grinned. “It’s not important. I want it. Quid pro quo time, Nate. You want my help the price is the ledger.”
“Move it, Miller!” The guard hollered as he struck the bars again.
“I need your word, Nate.”
Nathan sighed. “It’s yours.”
46
Tires crunched over gravel as the taxi pulled into Maria’s driveway. The driver slung an arm over the seat and said, “That’ll be forty-two dollars, pal.”
In the back seat, Nathan rubbed a hand over his mouth and stifled a yawn. It took all of yesterday, but he posted the three million dollar bail and dodged a last ditch effort by Singh to block his release. He reached for his wallet and peeled off a fifty. While he waited for change, he looked out the window and saw an unfamiliar brown sedan parked in the drive.
The driver muttered something as he passed over the change, but Nathan paid him no attention. He kicked the door open and exited the car. The taxi backed up and sped away. Nathan approached the sedan and noticed the department issued plates. He clenched his fists and stormed around back.
Nathan flung open the kitchen door. It banged against the wall and startled Maria. She brought her hand up to cover her mouth, and Nathan’s gaze flew to Singh seated across the table from her. Nathan’s face contorted with rage. Singh smiled in return.
Nathan snarled. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Nate!” Maria admonished. He glanced at her and she fell silent.
Singh lifted a coffee cup to his lips and took a sip. “Just getting to know your lady friend, Miller.” They stared at each other and he added, “She makes a mean cup of coffee.”
Nathan’s shoulders quaked, and his arms twitched. He spoke with unrestrained fury. “You’re not welcome here. Get out. Now.”
Singh nodded. He set the cup down with care and then stood to face Nathan. “I should get back, anyway.” He turned to Maria and said, “Thank you for your hospitality. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
Nathan blocked the doorway. Singh cracked a half-smile. “If you want me to leave, step aside, Miller.”
Nathan whipped his hands up and grabbed Singh by the lapels. He yanked him in close then pushed him away. “I find you around here again, it will be the last mistake you ever make.” He stepped aside and Singh left without another word.
“Nate? You’re trembling.” Maria reached for him and Nathan knocked her hand aside.
He recoiled and snapped at her. “Don’t touch me!”
Maria stepped back, shock spreading across her face. Nathan’s eyes darkened. He loomed over her—his face twisted by hate. “What was he doing here?”
Maria put more space between them. Her voice trailed off. “I—I don’t …”
“Answer me!”
She jumped and an involuntary cry passed her lips. Confusion etched on her face, she beseeched him. “Why are you being this way, Nate? You’re scaring me. We haven’t seen each other in four days, and you barge in here like this?”
Nathan stared at her. His mouth set in a thin line, he asked again, “What was he doing here?”
Maria stammered. “He—he had a badge. He said you worked together.”
“What did he want?” Nathan recognized fear in her stance, in the shiftiness of her eyes. He asked in a menacing whisper, “What did he tell you?”
Maria swallowed. “N—nothing.”
Quinn appeared behind Nathan and breathed in his ear. “She’s lying.”
Nathan roared in frustration. He slammed his fist against the kitchen counter and lurched forward. Maria tried to run, but he grabbed her by the arms and spun her around to face him. “Tell me the truth!”
She sobbed. “I am.”
Nathan’s breathing increased. His nostrils flared and his grip tightened. “You’re lying.”
“You’re hurting me.”
“She’s hurting you.” Quinn stood behind Nathan and spoke in his ear. “What is she hiding from you? Singh will use her against you if you don’t stop her now.”
Nathan loosened his grip and saw the imprints his fingers made on her skin. Touching his forehead to hers, he lowered his voice. “He’s the one who charged me with murder. He tried to keep me behind bars—where I don’t belong. You can’t trust anything he says.” Nathan moved a hand up to caress her cheek and lift her gaze to his. “Tell me what he said to you.”
Her bottom lip quivered, and she took a ragged breath. “He…he just introduced himself. That was all.”
Quinn moved behind her and gave Nathan a thumb down gesture. Nathan clamped his hands around her arms and squeezed. She cried, and he hollered, “Don’t fucking lie to me!”
“Hey!” Nathan turned his head in time to see Damien rush him. “Get your hands off my mom.”
Damien grabbed Nathan’s left arm and pulled. Nathan didn’t budge so Damien punched him on the back of the head. Nathan roared and shoved Maria away. He whipped his left arm back and sent Damien flying over top of the kitchen table. Chairs upended and clattered to the floor next to Damien.
Quinn slowly clapped. He looked at Nathan with a sidelong grin and said, “There he is. There’s the mon
ster I know.” Nathan looked at him and felt his anger replaced with shame.
He staggered toward Damien to help, but the boy cowered from him. “Get away from my son.” Maria pushed past him and knelt on the floor next to Damien.
Nathan looked at his hands and slowed his breathing. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I—I don’t know what came over me.”
Maria hugged Damien to her chest. “You need to leave.”
He saw the bruises already forming on her arms. His stomach turned. “Maria, please. I—I never meant to hurt you. Or Damien.”
“Please just go.” Maria said, “I can’t talk about this now.”
Nathan felt his cheeks flush and closed his eyes against the regret washing over him. He left with a silent nod, chased from the room by angry stares and the pain of a breaking heart.
47
Alexis sat by the window of Brew Mountain Café and breathed in the rich aroma of prepared coffee. Elise returned to the table carrying a mochaccino with a stir stick between her teeth. She sat on the plush chair across from Alexis and gave her a look.
“What?” Alexis asked and turned her gaze to the window. Across the street, she watched the crowd of protestors outside AmeriGEN chant and shout.
Elise tapped the stir stick against her china mug and said, “Nothing.”
Alexis looked at her and rolled her eyes. “I know you better than that. Out with it.”
Elise wrapped her hands around her mug. “Okay. I can’t believe you’re still involving Miller in this. He was arrested right in front of us. For murder.”
“He’s out on bail.”
Elise scoffed. “And that makes a difference?”
Alexis levelled a hard look at her. “He’s not the only one with blood on their hands. Leo might be alive today if I had never went to see him. Or if you hadn’t given him up.”
Crestfallen, Elise stared down at her mug, her shoulders hunched.
Alexis sighed. The chime above the door jingled, and Alexis noticed Nathan enter. She lifted a hand to gain his attention and watched him approach. He looked terrible. His clothes were rumpled, and his skin carried a sallow hue. He grabbed a chair, and Elise shifted hers as far away from him as she could manage.
Alexis noted the dark circles under his eyes when he sat. “Not sleeping?”
“I hear prison can do that to you,” Elise commented.
Nathan gave her a fleeting glance. He cleared his throat and said to Alexis, “I get enough.”
Alexis was far from convinced. She leaned over the table and said, “Are you going to be up for what we need to do? Because right now, you look like shit.”
She watched his eyes drift to a spot beside her, and his mouth tighten into a thin line. He managed a weak nod. “I’ll be fine.” He rubbed his hand over his cheeks and jaw and asked, “What have you got for me?”
Alexis motioned to the window. “We have an appointment with Tiberius Holt in his office tomorrow night at five. We need to prepare.”
Nathan’s eyes widened. “How did you swing that?”
Alexis placed her tongue between her teeth. Cocking an eyebrow, she said, “I may have led him to believe we know more about Horde Protocol than, strictly speaking, we do.”
Nathan nodded his approval. Alexis looked at both of them in turn. “We don’t have a lot of time to prepare our line of questioning so I expect your A-games.” She lingered on Nathan. “Tiberius is no pushover. Do we have your full attention?”
Nathan gazed out the window then stared at the spot beside Alexis. His voice hardened, and he said, “I’m with you one hundred percent.”
“Until you get arrested again,” Elise said.
“That’s enough,” Alexis chastised her. To Nathan, she asked, “Is that a concern? We need to be at full strength to take on Holt. If there’s a possibility of more charges, we need to know now.”
Nathan grunted. “The charges they have are bogus. No need to worry.”
“Bogus?” Elise ridiculed, “We all know you murdered Leo Spagnuolo—”
“Elise!” Alexis shouted.
“No,” Elise said, “He’s a murderer, Lexi. There’s nothing bogus about that.”
Nathan stared at Elise. “Like you, my accusers can’t prove anything.”
Alexis scowled at Elise who stared right back at her. After a moment, Alexis turned to Nathan and said, “They must have something to support the charge.”
Nathan scoffed. “Identchip tracking records place me with Spagnuolo when he died. What they have is falsified data.”
“Oh, come on,” Elise mocked. She rolled her eyes and said, “The Identchip database is one of the most secure on the planet.”
“Nothing’s totally secure, Elise,” Alexis pointed out. “They did just suffer a breach.”
Elise argued, “By someone on-site. And the only way to insert false data into the tracking records is if someone had both identifier numbers before they broke in. There wouldn’t be enough time to mine the data for the numbers once on-site before security countermeasures locked you out.” She shook her head dismissively. “So tell me who you think would have access to the numbers beforehand and the ability to hack the database?”
Alexis said nothing, but Nathan jumped to his feet. She watched him stumble to the door and called after him. “Where are you going?”
He turned back, a look of wild abandon in his eyes, and said, “There’s someone I need to find.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t see it until now.” Quinn paced in front of Nathan. He looked upon him with pity. “I thought you were a detective? It makes perfect sense Hugo would set you up. The man despises you.” Quinn laughed. “Of course, you didn’t know about me either, and I stood next to you every day.”
Veins stood out on Nathan’s neck. Quinn said, “Tell me you can see the funny though? You gave him the idea to hack into Identchip, and he plants evidence against you. Priceless, am I right? But he couldn’t have done it alone. No, he needed help.” Quinn scratched his head in mock thought. “Who could’ve given him the identifier numbers? Who had access to both? Your old pal Logue. How could you not connect the dots?”
Nathan seethed. The parking garage stood empty. A drip from somewhere nearby echoed off the concrete walls. He turned from Quinn’s judgment and gazed out at the fiery sunset coloring the sky an angry red.
“Maybe,” Nathan said, “I would’ve connected the dots sooner if I could get some goddamn sleep.”
“Well, whose fault is that?” Quinn smirked. “It’s not my guilt keeping you up.”
Nathan whirled around and thrust a finger at him. “I have no fucking guilt. You got what you deserved you fucking traitor.”
“Sure,” Quinn said, “lie to yourself some more. This behavior is not healthy, Nate.” He placed a finger to his bottom lip. “Then again, all things considered, talking to yourself is hardly the standard of good health.”
Nathan felt his muscles tense. He gnashed his teeth together and balled his hands into fists. “What the hell do you want from me?”
Quinn appeared inches from Nathan’s nose. A wan smile curved his lips. “I want you to learn.”
“Learn what?”
Quinn wagged a finger at him. “All in due time.”
Nathan heard feet shuffling behind him. He turned and watched Hugo approach his car. Hugo didn’t see him until the last moment when he cried out in shock and leapt backward dropping his shopping bag. The contents spilled across the concrete.
Nathan bent to look through the bag and found two shirts, a pair of pants and toiletries strewn about the ground. He glanced up at Hugo. His voice was low and menacing. “Taking a trip?”
Hugo couldn’t stand still. His feet kept shuffling, his hands kept moving, and his eyes kept darting around the empty structure. Nathan rose fast and clamped his left hand on the back of Hugo’s neck. He stared into his frightened eyes and slammed Hugo’s head against his fender.
Nathan
grabbed the keys, unlocked the trunk and lifted a dazed Hugo into it. He waited for Hugo to look up at him before slamming the lid and plunging Hugo into darkness.
Nathan pulled the vehicle over to the side of the trestle bridge. Iron support beams cast twilight shadows across the pavement. He opened the door and looked back the way he came. An amber strobe light blinked on a bridge closed sign across the road. At the other end of the bridge, an identical one blinked and guaranteed no traffic would cross the bridge.
He shuffled to the rear of the car. Thirty feet distant, orange pylons surrounded a muted yellow roller. Nathan drew his pistol and popped the trunk. He ordered, “Get out.”
“Ahhh.” Quinn slid in beside him. “This brings back memories.”
Nathan ignored him. He barked at Hugo again, “On your feet!”
Hugo blinked several times to adjust his eyesight after the pitch black ride in the trunk. He scrambled out of the trunk and fell to the pavement with a thud. He rose to his knees. Nathan lashed out with his pistol, striking Hugo on the side of the neck. Hugo fell to the side and cried out in pain.
Nathan kept his aim trained on him and said, “I can’t find you at home, so I go to your office and find it cleaned out. What am I to think?”
Hugo kept his eyes averted and his face close to the ground. “It—it’s no big deal. N—nothing to worry about.”
“Nothing to worry about, he says,” Quinn whispered in Nathan’s ear, “He tried to run.”
Nathan tightened his pistol grip. “You’ve made a grave mistake.”
Hugo kneeled in front of Nathan. “Wh—what’s going on? Why d—did you bring me here?”
“I know what you’ve done,” Nathan said, “What I want to know is when Logue contacted you? When did the worm turn?”
Hugo looked up at him with wide eyes. “I—I don’t know what y—you’re talking about.”
Quinn shook his head. “Not a very good liar, is he?”
Nathan roared and whipped his left hand across Hugo’s face. Blood poured from Hugo’s mouth and busted nose. Nathan loomed over him. He bent down and lifted him with his left hand. Keeping the pistol gripped in his right, Nathan shoved Hugo back against the bridge railing.
Singularity Page 20
