by Dan Ames
The gunshots shattered the rear window of the car and Pauling felt shattered glass drain down around her. In front of her, the driver’s head sprouted blood as a bullet struck. Tufts of hair lifted and blood sprayed onto the inside of the windshield. His body slumped forward over the steering wheel. The car careened sideways and accelerated until it scraped the right wall of the overpass. There was the sound of metal shrieking and Pauling smelled burning oil and rubber. The car came to a sliding, grinding halt, halfway inside the tunnel.
Goddamnit, Pauling thought. Perfect place for an ambush.
There was nowhere to run. Even if she did, they would mow her down in seconds flat.
Instead, she dove forward over the back seat as more shots rang out. She heard the bullets punch into the metal and bits of steel and glass pierced the skin on the back of her arms and neck.
Pauling landed on the front seat and reached over to the driver’s door. She pulled the release handle and pushed the driver out of the car onto the pavement. His blood acted as a lubricant and he slid easily out of the car.
Pauling pulled the door shut just as bullets shattered the window and sideview mirror. She glanced into the rearview mirror and saw two men exiting a dark sedan.
One of them she recognized as the man posing as a dentist on her first flight out – the same one who’d ransacked her hotel room.
Pauling found the gas pedal and pushed it forward, wrenching the steering wheel to the left. They were hooked on something but the car’s big engine screamed and she again heard the sound of twisting metal and suddenly the big car broke free. Behind her, she saw the two men separate. One started running toward her. One was racing back to the car.
Perfect, she thought.
She slammed on the brakes, threw the car into reverse and gunned the big car backward, straight into the running man who’d stopped and was aiming. The car hit him in the midsection and flung him backward.
Pauling kept the car going and felt the car run over the man on the ground. She hit the brakes again and saw his body now in front of the car. She steered the car forward and ran over him again, aiming the tires for his head. Once she was past, she again stopped the car.
She flung the door open and ran to the man. He was dead. His neck was clearly broken. Pauling found the gun still clutched in his hand. She heard an engine revving behind her and dove to her left, out of the way of the attacker’s vehicle.
She landed in the middle of the road as the second car crashed into the one she’d just vacated. She took careful aim and as the second gunman leapt from the car, she shot him in the head.
He landed face-first on the pavement.
Pauling got to her feet, felt blood running down the backs of her arms and her knees were bleeding. She went to the second dead man, found his gun and spare ammunition and then inspected the cars. The attackers’ car, even though it had just rammed into the one she’d been riding in, was in better shape. All of its windows were intact. Pauling could drive it and not attract attention.
She had no intention of waiting for the police to arrive, even though there were no signs of anyone around. The killers had picked the perfect spot to make their attempt.
Too bad it hadn’t worked out for them.
Pauling got into the car and then had a second thought. She went back to the two dead men, retrieved their cell phones and got back into the car.
She threw the cell phones and the guns onto the passenger seat and drove away, under the overpass, back toward the city.
Chapter 31
Tallon made the drive in just under six and a half hours, stopping only for gas and coffee. By the time he was less than a half hour from the city, a message popped up:
Tallon,
Pauling is waiting for you at this location. Please go there and retrieve her. Once I see that you’ve found her, I’ll send you more instructions on where we can meet. Please be careful, they already tried once to kill her. They’ll try again.
Viper
Just like he’d done before, the minute he was done with reading the message he called Pauling.
“What happened?” he asked. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said. “A little shaken up. It’s been awhile since I’ve been through something like that.”
He heard her take a sip of water. She briefly described what had happened, leaving out certain obvious conclusions. He was glad she was hydrating. Adrenaline can take a lot out of a person and nothing gets the blood pumping faster than being shot at. He certainly knew that firsthand.
“I’ve got your GPS coordinates and my navigation mapped me to you. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Okay.”
As he drove, he felt an incredible sense of relief that Pauling was okay. He loved her and the idea that someone had tried to take her out infuriated him. He also tried to reconcile what had happened to Pauling in the context of what had just happened in Vegas. Whatever was happening was unraveling fast. There was big money at stake for this level of violence to exist.
He had more questions than ever and he couldn’t wait to talk to this Viper character. If he was, in fact, real.
Tallon stayed on the highway for five more minutes before taking an exit that led to a cloverleaf anchored by a huge truck stop. The nav told him to follow the road east, into a commercial strip of warehouses and equipment lots encircled by razor wire.
At a mall that consisted of a dollar store and several empty storefronts, he pulled into the second entrance at the end.
There were only three cars in the parking lot. Two were in front of the dollar store. The third was just past the store, near an empty building that looked like it had once been a Mexican restaurant. The sign above the door was blank, but shaped in the form of a cactus.
He pulled up next to the dark sedan and saw Pauling behind the wheel.
She got out of the car and he climbed down to meet her.
They embraced and he could feel her body in his hands, feel how tense she was. He felt the dried blood on her arms and looked her over.
“Later,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”
She went to the car and pulled out two guns and two cell phones and together they climbed into Tallon’s SUV.
Once inside, he leaned over and kissed her.
He pulled out of the parking lot and drove slowly with no destination in mind. As he drove she told him the finer details of the ambush and how she’d made her escape.
“They underestimated you,” he said.
“Last time for everything,” she responded. “Okay, your turn.”
Tallon gave a recounting of his moves in Vegas, including how he’d executed the watcher. Pauling was especially interested in DeGroot and Sonia.
“How did they get involved?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Tallon said. “Maybe Viper has some answers.”
Pauling looked out the window and Tallon saw her reflection in the window. She was tired. He was about to suggest they find somewhere to hole up when both of their phones vibrated with a new message from Viper.
“Hold that thought,” she said.
She looked down and read the address out loud.
“It’s about two miles away.”
They punched the address in Tallon’s navigation system and soon they pulled into another commercial parking lot, this one with apparently mixed use tenants. On one side was a stone and masonry business. In the center, a long-term storage facility with freestanding units that ran back in three sets of columns. To the right, a trucking business that seemed to be down on its luck. Only four trucks were in the lot and they looked to be twenty years old and not well taken care of.
“My guess is we’re going in there,” Tallon said. He lifted his chin toward the gated entrance to the storage units. A message came through on their phones.
“It’s a code for the gate,” Pauling said.
Tallon pulled the SUV up to the gate and Pauling read him the code out loud. He punched in t
he numbers and the arm lifted. Tallon pulled the SUV through.
“It’s on the right,” Pauling said, reading from her phone.
He turned the SUV right and then another left.
“There at the end,” Pauling said.
Tallon spotted it. A lone storage unit with the door open.
Light was spilling out onto the darkened pavement. There was no other sign of life.
He drove forward and as they pulled up to the open storage unit, they each had a gun in their hand. Tallon held his low, just beneath the opening of his window. He was ready to fire, depending on what was inside the storage space.
As the unit came into view Tallon saw several banks of computer equipment all alight with green buttons and dials. There was a massive network of cables and electrical lines. It looked like the entire space was filled with computer banks.
A single man stood in front of them.
He had on a T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers.
“Viper,” Pauling said.
Chapter 32
Tallon parked the SUV beyond the end of the row of storage units and shut it off. He walked back to where Pauling now stood with the blond man.
“What the hell kind of name is Viper?” Tallon asked.
The blond man held out his hand. “Yeah, I know. Super lame. But online hackers, most of whom have the maturity level of fourteen-year-old boys, love cheesy nicknames. My real name’s Paul. Paul Collins.”
They shook hands and he looked at Pauling.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I intercepted some law enforcement communication about two dead men out in the middle of nowhere, sort of by the airport detour. I wondered if that was you.”
“I’m fine,” Pauling said, neither confirming nor denying the question.
“The real question is, what in the hell are we doing here?” Tallon asked. “And what exactly happened in Vegas?”
“I’ve got some answers for you,” Collins said. “Unfortunately, I don’t have all of the answers. Here, let’s go inside.”
Pauling and Tallon stepped into the storage unit and Collins hit a button. The door powered down and locked into place.
“Quite a place you have here,” Pauling said. “Do you have your own power?”
“Yes and no,” Collins explained. “I started with what this facility provided and then found a way to bypass the main junction and divert what they need. The rest I commandeered and found ways to boost it quite dramatically. It’s my own server system so I can do my work free of interference,” he said. “Obviously, I’ve had to install massive firewalls which a lot of this represents.” He waved his hand behind them toward the rows of computers.
“And free of scrutiny?” Tallon asked. “You know, from the authorities?”
“No, the authorities are the least of my concerns,” Collins said. “Even if they wanted to investigate me, and I’ve given them no reason to be interested, it would take them a long time and a lot of financial investment to do it. It would also require a technical expertise they simply don’t have.”
“So you’re not avoiding law enforcement. Who are you hiding from?” Pauling asked.
Collins held up his pale, slender hands. “Let’s back up a little bit,” he said. “First, I’m a programmer. I actually work for FlyWire.”
“You work for Charles Tse?” Pauling asked. “It doesn’t sound like you’re a fan of his from that first message you sent.”
“He’s brilliant but I also believe he’s dangerous.”
“He seems harmless,” Pauling said. “Besides, I think his position on bridging the income gap is admirable.”
“I’ll get to that,” Collins said. “Here, have a seat.”
He had pulled out two folding chairs and gave his high-tech office chair, which was in front of two computer monitors and a keyboard, to Pauling.
“I’ve been working for Charles Tse for five years,” Collins said. “It was the second gig I had after Stanford.”
“What was the first?”
“An app for sharing video that doubled as a dating service. I made a ton of money but it wasn’t why I went to school. So when Tse offered me the job, I took it.” Collins’ face lit up and he seemed energized by the memory. “We revolutionized a lot of the way businesses work and invented new security measures to protect not just businesses, but people, too.”
He paused and Tallon knew he was about to get to the point.
“About sixteen months ago I came across a top secret memo. And when I say top secret, I mean, really, really classified. As in it was written by Charles and intended for only five other people. In the world.”
He paused again.
“Who were the other five?” Pauling asked.
“The most important, and wealthiest, CEOs of technology companies in the world.”
“Let me guess,” Tallon said. “Mikael Gladhus was one of them.”
“Yes,” Collins confirmed. “Now, it was really none of my business, but something in the memo caught my eye. It was written in a way that said almost nothing at all. It was like a puzzle to me. It was a fairly straightforward message that was as banal as anything could be.”
“But it really wasn’t,” Pauling offered.
“No. Now, I love puzzles. So I ran every test imaginable and finally cracked the code. And I discovered that Charles was planning a series of business ventures with all five of these people. Four were men and one was a woman.”
“So, what’s the big deal?” Tallon asked. “These guys form deals all the time.”
“Right, that’s what I thought.”
Pauling smiled. “That’s why it caught your attention. If it was a typical deal, nothing shady, then why the subterfuge?”
“That’s right. So I kept monitoring the system for more messages and there were a couple more but nothing specific that I could grasp. And then one stood out. It was from Gladhus. It wasn’t in code. He said he was backing out of the deal. And it sounded like he had something he was going to use to torpedo the deal. For everyone.”
Collins took a deep breath. “Then Charles sent a hurried message, not coded to a separate security unit. He ordered them to set up a meeting with Gladhus and retrieve his computer and any documents he had with him.”
“You knew it was a hit, didn’t you?”
Collins nodded. “I kind of figured they weren’t going to treat him with kid gloves. Did I know that my boss, the famous Charles Tse, was going to sanction murder? No. But I was also in a delicate situation because I didn’t really have anything I could take to law enforcement.”
An idea popped into Tallon’s head and he instantly knew it was right.
“Oh no,” he said.
Collins nodded.
“Yes indeed.”
“What?” Pauling asked.
Collins shook his head and answered with a voice tinged with both sadness and regret.
“I hired Paco.”
Chapter 33
“You hired Paco,” Tallon repeated. “How? And why?”
Collins smiled again. “Not to sound cocky but I’m pretty good at what I do. It was easy to find private security for dangerous jobs. There are message boards and Reddit discussions where you can find what you’re looking for. Word was Paco Williams was one of the best.”
“He was,” Tallon said, bitterness in his voice.
“How did you hire him, though? Just call him up?” Pauling asked.
Collins shook his head. “I just created a fake business and sent it to Paco’s unofficial manager. I guess that’s what you would call him. Along with a hefty budget.”
“And what exactly were you trying to accomplish?” Pauling asked.
Tallon had already told her all about Paco and what had happened, so she was following the flow of Viper’s story.
“One, I wanted to send someone to protect Gladhus,” Collins explained. “I thought about contacting him myself, but how would that have worked? Email? Messaging? He would have totally been suspicious, espe
cially if he’d found out I worked for Charles. So, I figured the best thing to do was to protect him, get him to a safe place and then I would go from there. To be honest, I didn’t have a grand plan. I was kind of making it up as I went along.”
He shrugged his shoulders and Tallon and Pauling exchanged a glance. It was Tallon who spoke first.
“I guess what I’m missing is why a business deal would result in so much violence. I mean, drug dealers? Sure. The Mafia? Of course. But a group of technology gurus who own half of Silicon Valley? Since when are they employing hitmen and killing innocent people? What kind of deal were they putting together?”
“That’s just it, I don’t have a clear answer for you,” Collins said.
“Well you must have some kind of vague idea,” Pauling pointed out. “At least tell us your hunches. Maybe we can unravel it together.”
Collins nodded. “Okay. Well, I can start with Charles himself. He portrays himself as this evangelical-type person.” He leveled his gaze at Pauling. “Trust me. He’s not. You’ve heard of the stereotypical Silicon Valley ‘bro?’” He used air quotes to emphasize the word. “Well, Charles is one of them. Big time. He’s a misogynist. He’s greedy. And he’s not above breaking the law. It just so happens he’s a genius, too. And very powerful.”
“So he’s not who he claims to be,” Tallon said. “Welcome to America.”
“Right. But you asked me to tell you what my hunches are. Well, first, I don’t think this business deal, whatever it is, is legal. I think it’s probably a scam of some sort. But knowing how big Charles thinks, it’s probably one of the biggest scams ever conceived. Like the kind that would have a global effect.”
Tallon started pacing back and forth in the small space. The servers were still running, their green lights blinking on and off like high-tech Christmas lights.
“If they were going to rob someone, who would they rob? The markets? Banks?” Pauling asked.
Collins leaned forward in his steel folding chair and clasped his hands together. “No, I don’t think so. But I have one more hunch I want to tell you about.”
