Web of Shadows

by Susan Sleeman

“GREAT, THANKS, Connor.” Becca balanced the phone with her shoulder as she closed files on her computer. “I appreciate your agreeing to see me so quickly. Where do you want to meet?”

  “After dragging me out of bed in the middle of the night, the least you can do is buy me breakfast.” He yawned, then gave her the name of nearby pancake place. “I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

  She agreed, though a sugary, processed-flour, greasy restaurant was the last place she would choose to eat.

  “You won’t be able to miss me,” Connor continued. “I’m six-two with reddish brown hair, and I’ll be intensely focused on the door so I don’t miss you. Oh, and if you still can’t manage to find me, I’ll wear my PPB windbreaker to make it easy on you.” He chuckled.

  Right. One of those guys who thought a local cop was superior to a Fed.

  Confused, she said goodbye and hung up. Either Kait’s description of Connor as being a nice guy was way off base or he was joking. Becca hoped for joking, as an attitude like that could get very tedious if they had to work together.

  She stopped on the way out of the building to give Jae a task and still made it to the restaurant on time. Despite the calorie-laden dishes that were oh-so-bad for her, the sweet smell kicked up her appetite. It didn’t take her long to spot Connor sitting near the back of the narrow diner with scarred laminate tables and worn vinyl booths. He came to his feet and planted his hands on his waist while bluish-steel eyes stared intensely at her. He wore jeans with a gray polo shirt under the navy windbreaker. Hair that was more red than brown, a square jaw and cleft in his chin, all mixed together nicely, making her stomach flutter.

  Surprised at her reaction, she gritted her teeth and started toward him.

  “Hey, baby.” A sloppy guy with a beer belly seated at the counter grabbed her arm. “No need to take another step. There’s plenty of room next to me.”

  She sensed Connor heading her way, but she held up a hand, stilling him, as she jerked her arm free.

  “There’s plenty of room in County lockup tonight, too.” She fixed her eyes on the lowlife eyeing her up like a treat and slid her blazer back to reveal her gun and badge. “Touch me again and you’re gonna see how much room.”

  His buddy broke up laughing and elbowed him. “Guess she told you.”

  “Geez. I was just kidding.” He scowled at her.

  She stared him down until he turned away, then kept both men in view while making her way to Connor’s booth.

  He was watching her every step, his study less intense now, and the side of his mouth had turned up. “Remind me never to make you mad.”

  “Connor, I presume,” she said choosing to ignore Connor’s mega-watt smile, as well as the drunk’s come-on.

  “Yes, ma’am.” His eyes crinkled, the lighthearted look doing even more to unsettle her.

  She slid into the booth, taking his seat so she could face the door and keep an eye on the men at the counter. Connor didn’t miss her move to claim his territory, but he shrugged and took the other bench, sitting sideways, his back to the wall. Odd. She wasn’t used to easygoing men in the law enforcement field, and she found his easy acquiesce interesting.

  A dishwater-blond waitress with a stained apron and an expression that said she’d rather be anywhere but there, stopped by to fill Connor’s cup. Becca grabbed the other mug on the table and turned it over.

  The waitress sloshed it full of thick black sludge. “Know what you want or should I come back?”

  “I’ll have two slices of whole wheat toast. Butter and honey on the side.” Once the waitress was gone, Becca caught Connor watching her, his expression one she couldn’t quite read. “What?”

  He grabbed his mug. “I was wondering if you were one of those women who don’t like to eat in front of men.”

  “I have no problem eating. I just don’t want to eat the over-processed unhealthy stuff they make here.”

  “Ouch.” His grin returned.

  “I thought you said you were intense,” she said in more of a growl.

  “Someone’s cranky.”

  She hadn’t been. Not until she started feeling like a teenage girl looking for her next boyfriend instead of an agent meeting with a cop. They were there to work, not socialize and waste time. She wished he’d get more serious.

  She turned her attention to a case file lying on the table and flipped it open without asking. “Your detective do a thorough job on Bryce’s car?”

  “Yes, for what he knew the situation to be at the time—a simple B&E. Guess that’s not exactly true, though, is it? Sam says this smash and grab is connected to a much bigger case.”

  She felt him staring at her. Even after knowing him for all of five minutes, she could easily picture his eyes as he watched her. He was likely waiting for her to provide details of her investigation, but she wasn’t about to give out any information beyond what was needed to gain his cooperation. Not only was it a waste of time, but the fewer people who knew the NFL was vulnerable, the better.

  She looked up at him, making sure her expression was blank. “Let’s leave it at the fact that the computer we’re seeking contains information that could cause considerable damage, and we need to recover it before that happens.”

  “Oka-a-ay. I’ll buy that for now.” He kept his eyes locked on hers and tapped the folder. “As you can see, everything about the incident looked like a simple burglary.”

  She returned to the folder, and despite his attention remaining riveted to her, she was able to concentrate and finish reading the report. “There’s no mention of any other burglaries in the area. Wouldn’t it be natural for your detective to get suspicious of a random break-in and ask more questions?”

  “No,” he replied, a hint of defensiveness in his tone. “It’s not unusual for a computer left in a car to be nabbed, even in the safest of neighborhoods. And honestly, something like this isn’t top priority when there are more serious crimes needing our attention.” He slipped out of his jacket. His arms were covered in freckles, making him seem like the boy next door, but there was nothing else about his build that made him come off as quite so harmless.

  “Besides,” he continued after he dropped the jacket on the bench. “He followed protocol. Took a report, called in forensics, and canvassed the neighborhood. What more would you have had him do?”

  “Nothing, I suppose.” She stared at the file.

  He reached out and closed it, brushing a hand over hers. She snapped it back and fired a warning look at him. Received a look of surprise in return.

  “You got a thing with men touching you?” he asked. “’Cause I promise I’m not a perv like the guy at the counter.”

  A perv. Right. Like the guy who took Molly.

  Becca looked away, but felt his gaze on her. She suddenly wished Nina or Kait had taken this appointment. Her reaction to Connor baffled her. She didn’t have time for men in her life. Each day, each step had to be planned to get the most out of the day and have the greatest impact on life. Sure, she’d been tempted to date before, but then all she had to do was think of Molly and poof. It went away. Problem was, it wasn’t working right now.

  “So, how do we want to handle this?” he asked.

  Good. If she couldn’t focus on the case, at least he was doing so. She had Sulyard’s okay to share the investigation details with Connor if she required his help, but after reviewing the burglary case file, needing his help didn’t seem all that likely.

  She faced him again, making sure she didn’t let a hint of her emotions color her expression or her voice. “I’ll get things rolling and get back to you if I need you for anything more.”

  “Right, like I’m gonna let you get me out of bed, give me some half-baked explanation, then run off without me.” He crossed powerful arms, tightening the sleeves over his biceps as he stared
at her. “We’ll be working together on this every step of the way, Agent Lange. Make no mistake about that. The first time you try to ditch me, there will be consequences.”

  Becca clamped her lips together. The easygoing guy, the one who didn’t seem to have a care in the world, had turned into a barracuda, and dang if that didn’t make her heart rate kick up even higher.

  Chapter Fourteen

  BRANDT’S LIGHTS snapped off. Finally.

  Wiley couldn’t believe how long it had taken her to get ready for bed. He stripped off his clothes and fell in. That was it. Simple. Women took so much longer.

  Women. They were good for only one thing, and he was so repulsed by Brandt, she wasn’t even good for that.

  He gave her thirty minutes to fall asleep, then moved Kip’s car closer to her house. He snapped on a pair of latex gloves and grabbed the cheap laptop he’d bought on Craig’s List with a new hard drive installed. Once his mission was complete, he’d plant the machine in her house to cement her involvement in the hack. The computer he found in the cache would go to his buyer.

  He’d already turned down the screen brightness to keep from alerting the neighbors, making him squint to locate her wireless network. Since he’d found her password on his earlier visit, it took him only a few seconds to connect to the internet, leaving a trail from her IP address for the FBI to follow later. His next steps would take longer, but he didn’t care. His goal was in sight.

  He first logged in to the Hacktivist database and deleted Hamid’s crazy plea to return the computer. Kip wanted to clear his conscience of this matter. Now he could. Just not the way the mama’s boy had expected. As a bonus, Wiley had scored an extra two grand.

  Wiley then followed Tyler’s document that detailed the hack until the final step. He’d been waiting for this moment ever since he’d discover the hack. He’d wanted to try it out earlier, but forced himself to wait. Each time someone went through this virtual door, they risked the DHS database administrator finding the breach and fixing it. That would be the end of Wiley’s good fortune.

  He lifted his finger. Held it high. Held his breath. Hit enter. The code scrolled down the screen. White text on black suddenly opened to a beautiful, wonderful, data-entry window that proclaimed “No-Fly List” in big red letters.

  Oh, yeah. He was in. He’d freakin’ done it. For once in his life, he’d done it. This was the bomb.

  “Calm down, man,” he warned himself. He still had to finish the job, get out of the database undetected, and then get the pictures to Crash.

  He navigated through the screens, clicking Print Screen on each one. After reviewing each screenshot, he loaded them onto a flash drive for backup and closed the database. He quickly transferred the pictures to Brandt’s bogus phone and texted Hamid to cement the connection between them.

  Test finalized. Screenshots attached. Money to follow shortly.

  Wiley felt almost giddy and knew he was grinning like a fool. Though no one was out at this time of night, he still tugged up his balaclava before climbing out of the car to hide Brandt’s phone by her house. He’d next go to the hotel where Hamid was staying to reply to this text, and her phone had to be placed in the right location so the GPS report that the Feds received would make it look like Hamid had texted her while she was at home.

  “Game on, Brandt,” he whispered as he stashed it in the dark of night. “Game on.”

  NINA COULDN’T SLEEP. She’d tried. How she tried, but after an hour, she gave up and dressed for work. Kait and Becca wouldn’t be glad to see her. Especially Becca. She’d nagged Nina until she’d agreed to go home to get some rest. She knew they had to be tired, too. But Becca saw this investigation as a way to help Nina, and once Becca started one of her quests to right a wrong, she didn’t stop until she saw it through.

  Nina stepped to the door and glanced in a mirror. A vision from Dawn of the Living Dead stared back at her. Dark circles under tired eyes. Face wan from fatigue. Hair frizzing out.

  Distraction. She needed something for Becca to focus on so she wouldn’t take one look at Nina and send her back home. Nina grabbed a bright Hermes scarf hanging on a hook by the door. A true Alabama belle, her grandmother always said if one could do nothing about one’s minor physical flaws, dress to impress, put on a smile, and no one would notice the imperfection.

  Fat lot her grandmother knew about the world Nina worked in. Agents were trained to observe every detail. Sure, they wouldn’t miss her scarf, but they would also note the fatigue. Still, old habits died hard, so she quickly knotted the soft silk around her neck and slathered on lipstick before heading to the car.

  She hadn’t been on the road for more than five minutes before her phone sounded in Kait’s ringtone. Anxiety took hold. Kait wouldn’t be calling when she thought Nina was sleeping unless it was urgent. Nina pulled to the side of the road to answer.

  “What happened to getting some rest?” Kait said, not surprising Nina.

  “I tried, but couldn’t sleep,” Nina replied. “What about you? Are you heading home soon?”

  “In a bit. At least to grab a shower and clean clothes.” She fell silent for a few moments, raising Nina’s concern.

  “What’s wrong?” Nina asked.

  “DHS got back to Sulyard. They confirmed the hack, but haven’t traced it to Ty’s house yet.”

  “Oh.”

  “Oh,” Kait mimicked. “That’s all you’ve got.”

  “I didn’t think Ty lied to us and expected this response from DHS.” She tried to sound casual when she felt sick to her stomach over the official confirmation that someone—someone with potential terrorist ties—possessed the ability to alter the NFL. “Is Sulyard talking about arresting Ty?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Really, why not?”

  “DHS hasn’t found the database vulnerability Ty exploited. They asked our team to work with him to see if he can recreate the hack. They hope that will help them fix the vulnerability faster.”

  Nina couldn’t believe this. It was almost too good to be true. “That’s very open-minded of them, isn’t it? I mean, he could do additional damage.”

  “They’ve thought of that and plan to dangle a carrot to motivate him to do the right thing. If he succeeds in finding the vulnerability, they won’t file charges for the initial hack.”

  “Wonderful,” Nina said. “I’m assuming they won’t let him do this unsupervised.”

  “No, and Sulyard agrees with them. Ty will work out of our office, and one of us will supervise him every minute he’s online.”

  “I don’t suppose Sulyard will allow me to do that.”

  “Actually, he thought you should. He said since you knew Ty and the kid likes you, that you’d be the best one to work with him.”

  “Wow. Another surprise.” Nina imagined Ty’s face when she shared the good news with him, maybe giving him hope that he would get out of this without serving time. And Quinn would be thrilled, too. She suddenly couldn’t wait to see them. “I can run by the hotel and pick him up, if it’ll help.”

  Kait hesitated for a long time before saying, “That’d be good.”

  “You don’t sound like you believe that.”

  “Are you going there to get Ty or Quinn?”

  “Both,” Nina answered honestly. “I’m sure Quinn or his mom will accompany Ty to the office.”

  Silence filled the phone again, and Nina could almost hear her friend’s unspoken opinion about Quinn. Kait was fiercely loyal and she took it to heart when any of them had problems. Nina always thought of Kait as the mother of the group. Usually Nina liked it, but not when it came to Quinn.

  “This’s no big deal, Kait,” Nina said. “I’ll simply tell them about it and bring Ty in as soon as he can get ready.”

  “Just be careful, sweetie. I don’t want to see you get
burned by Quinn again.”

  Right, be careful. Like Nina even knew how to be careful around Quinn. She never had. She’d dated casually in the past and had never been seriously tempted to start a long-term relationship, but it had been different with Quinn from the start. Maybe Kait was right. Maybe she shouldn’t go see him. Maybe. Or not.

  She sighed and opened a text to him.

  You up? she typed.

  Yes, he replied.

  Can you meet me in the lobby in 10 minutes?

  Yes. Even in texts, his communication was short and to the point.

  See you then.

  She arrived at the hotel early and stepped through the night dark with heavy clouds. At this time of year, the sun wouldn’t come up for another thirty minutes, but the dead of night was starting to slip away. Business men were up and moving, pulling suitcases behind them to a sea of rental cars.

  As the automatic doors swished closed behind her, Nina searched the lobby and found Quinn, his back to her, staring out a side window. That was odd. He never put himself in the vulnerable stance of having his back to the door. Never let anyone enter his space without knowing about them and assessing the threat. This thing with Ty must really have him off his game.

  She approached. Waited for him to turn. He remained, his feet planted wide, long, slender fingers clamped on the thick column of his neck.

  “Quinn,” she said softly, trying not to scare him.

  He turned slowly, proving he’d known she was there despite his continued focus out the window. His eyes were tired, and sad. Dark, haunted. “I suppose you’re here to tell me the hack has been confirmed.”

  She nodded. “We heard from DHS a little while ago.”

  He drew in a sharp breath.

  “They haven’t traced the transmission back to your parents’ house yet, but they will.”

  “So does this mean Ty’s reprieve from arrest continues?”

  “Yes,” she said. “But not for the reason you’re thinking. DHS has requested his help.”

  “Help? How?”