Shades of Grey: Book Two of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles

by Phelps, J. C.

  “Yes, sir.” He had to be talking to the same person as before, but his voice was subdued.

  “No, sir, we haven’t. I just wanted to check in to let you know I won’t be in my apartment for a while, but Ms. Grey will be,” a pause. “But, sir, out of all the partners, she should know,” a long pause. “Yes, sir. I understand, but if she had known, this mix up with Strom would have never happened. She obviously knows something I don’t.” I could tell he was getting into some kind of trouble by the way he said his next, “Yes, sir. I will contact you.” Then he hung up the phone.

  I waited until he left the apartment before I went to his phone. My mind was reeling. Who had he been talking to? I stood motionless in front of the phone thinking. White had been talking to someone he called “sir”. Deep down I knew who it was, but I wasn’t sure what it meant.

  The thoughts were coming so fast now that it was hard to sort through them. I decided to put an end to the questions.

  I picked up the phone and waited for a dial tone. I was afraid of what I might discover if I pressed the redial. I gathered my courage and did it.

  “White? Is there something else?” It was my dad’s voice on the other end.

  “Hi, Dad,” I said with a small shake in my voice.

  “Alex? How did you get this number?”

  “You’d be surprised at some of the things I know. What I want to know though is why White is calling you in Bulgaria?” My voice had become even more unsteady and my hands were visibly shaking.

  “I can’t tell you right now. But I promise when I get back I’ll explain everything. Right now I need you to do that research for me. The sooner you get that information, the sooner I can conclude this job and come home.”

  “What information is that?” I asked rudely.

  “What does White have you working on?”

  “Nothing at the moment.” I took a deep breath. “Okay Dad, I don’t know what’s going on, but I want to. I’m going to come clean and I hope you will too.” I proceeded to tell him everything I knew, about Penumbra’s identity. “And now White has Strom under protective custody here in the building. Did you know that?”

  “Yes and I told him I didn’t agree with it. However, it might work to our advantage. At least now Penumbra knows exactly where he is.”

  “Well, are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Penumbra is in your vicinity right now but she will wait until the designated date before she takes out Strom. What I need you to be doing is following Whites orders.”

  “You don’t give me enough credit. What did White mean by ‘if any of the partners should know, I should’?” I noticed I was getting louder and toned it down a little.

  “I told you we will talk when I get back.” He was firm.

  We argued over the phone for several minutes. Dad was trying to convince me to finish the job and I was trying to pry more information from him. White finally walked in carrying two plastic bags.

  “I’ve got to go,” I said and hung up. By this time I was very angry.

  “I didn’t know what you’d want so...” he held up the bags. “What’s wrong? Who was that?” White asked me.

  “I just got off the phone with Admiral Robert S. Stanton,” I said with an accusatory tone.

  “Oh, I brought some food back. Do you want some?” He tried to pretend it was no big deal. He obviously didn’t know where I had gotten the number.

  “You’ve been hiding something and now, when you’re caught you continue to hide it. I want to know what you are hiding.”

  “What makes you think I’m hiding something?” His tone was innocent.

  “I heard you talking out here earlier to someone so when you left I pushed redial and viola, it was my dad. Why is it you’re calling him in Bulgaria? If we’re doing a job for him, I want to know about it.”

  White had been wearing a nervous look until I added the last sentence, then he smiled at me.

  “Okay, the Admiral wants us to find out some information about Strom.” The look of relief was too intense to let me believe what he was saying.

  “You’re still hiding something.”

  “I’m not the only one. You’ve been walking around here with a chip on your shoulder for a couple of days now. What is it that’s bothering you so much? At first I thought it was because you were being held here for your own safety, but now I know it’s something else. That comment you made about us “harboring Strom.” How did you know your Dad would be against it?”

  “I told you, I’ve done some research on Penumbra and it has to be political and we don’t want to get mixed up in that.”

  “No, I don’t think it’s that easy. Let me see, you started acting strange after those couple of days you spent in your apartment getting absolutely nothing done on your assignment.”

  “Don’t turn this around. I want to know what’s going on with you and my dad.” I pointed my finger at the floor in an angry gesture.

  “No, let’s figure out what’s going on with you first. You must have dug something up, but what is it?” He had an evil look on his face. “What were we working on?” He was dragging this out. He plainly thought he knew the answer already.

  “Whatever. If you really don’t know then you can keep on guessing.” I gave him a defiant look.

  “No, you’re going to tell me now.” He walked toward me ominously.

  I backed up and tried to fix my blunder. “This has nothing to do with me. I want to know why you are calling my dad in Bulgaria.”

  “You just admitted to something and I want to know what it is that’s been bothering you. It has something to do with Strom or Penumbra, that much I know.” He took another step toward me.

  “Give it up. Don’t get pushy.” I stood my ground. I felt confident that I could get in a few bruises before he overpowered me.

  He continued his advance. “You will tell me and now.” By this time he was in my face.

  “Back up, buddy. You get one warning and that’s it.” My voice had become quiet. He did back up some, but not enough for my liking.

  “Alex,” he changed his stance and tone. “Just tell me.”

  “I might tell you what you want to know, after you tell me everything that’s been going on around here.”

  “We’ll see. We do need to do some work for your father though. Let’s get this done and then maybe we can talk about it.”

  I grabbed the food and brought it back to C.I.C. and White followed closely. He had enjoyed that too much and I was still angry.

  “What am I supposed to be working on then?” I was short and to the point.

  “Right now I think I want you to find out who was embezzling from K&G. That might help our goal.”

  “It would help to know our goal.” I shot back at him.

  “Have some patience.” His smugness overwhelmed me. I couldn’t continue to let him think his information was better than mine.

  “I know Penumbra’s identity.” I gave him a level look.

  “What?” The look of astonishment was worth it. Now I smiled smugly at him.

  “Who is he?”

  “Do you want to trade information now?” I asked him.

  “Sure, you first.” Then I realized how stupid I had been by giving him that much information.

  “Nope,” I held my composure.

  “Then, I guess I won’t tell you what I know. Besides, I don’t believe you.”

  “Yeah, you probably wouldn’t believe me when I told you who it is then. So I guess we will both have to walk around in the dark. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ll ever tell you.”

  “Fine, the Admiral wants us to find a way to implicate Strom for high treason. They’ve been trying to do this for many years now and he keeps squirming his way out of it. The Admiral thinks there could be a link between K&G and Strom because Strom fronted Keffler the money to start the business and now K&G seems to be involved in treason. If we are unable to link them in the next few days, Penumbra wi
ll be forced to take a hand. They have been trying to avoid this because they are hoping they can get Strom to help ferret out some spies. There, now tell me.”

  “Didn’t you hear me? I have already decided not to tell you. Plus if that was all there was to it, you would’ve told me without a fuss. Think about it and let me know when you decide to come clean.”

  “Come on Alex. At least give me a hint.” He had moved closer to me and I could smell his cologne. This made me more nervous than when he had become menacing but I didn’t give in or show my uneasiness.

  “Let’s get back to work. We need to find out who the culprit is at K&G and try to tie them to Strom. Oh, do you know why my dad is holding Hincal Basar?”

  “No, he didn’t mention him to me.” Ha, one more for me, I thought.

  “Well, we are working the K&G side and he’s working the Strom side. I think this is something very important. Obviously Strom has ties to Basar and he came up in our investigation of K&G. Maybe we should work that angle.”

  “That’s a good idea. I sent Red and Brown to talk to Ken Rafferty in Montana. They should be back late tomorrow morning and hopefully will have some good information for us, but until then I think Basar is the link.”

  We worked on Hincal Basar until we were both done eating and hadn’t learned anything new that was of any help to us. White told me to go a different route and he would continue working the Basar angle.

  I started back at the beginning, as if it were my company that had been breached. I’m sure I could have found out the source of the embezzling and industrial espionage if I would have just looked a little closer. We really only needed to find out who had initiated the data transfers and then try to connect him or her to Strom. Because K&G Systems had just recently gotten a new computer system, I knew it would be almost impossible to find information on the data transfers. I had a feeling the two crimes against K&G were perpetrated by the same person and it would be easier to find out who had embezzled the money, so I started there.

  I had already checked all of Ed’s local accounts and there had been no suspicious activity so I went at it from the middle. I got back into K&G Systems bank account and traced where the money went. I had already done this for Keffler so it was easy for me to get right back into the accounts and I have to say I wasn’t too terribly surprised to find everything in Mr. John Kefflers name. Even though I wasn’t surprised I still didn’t know how to link the two crimes to Keffler. I had proof of the embezzlement but if Keffler wasn’t pressing it, no one else would either. Except, I thought, Mr. Grimes. If I was unable to pin Keffler for both crimes I could bring it up to Grimes and he could press charges against Keffler and maybe the rest would follow. What was I talking about? I didn’t have enough time for that. I would have to find out on my own. Well, if it came down to the worst case scenario and Strom ended up dead then I could tell Grimes about the embezzling so Keffler wouldn’t get away with everything.

  I wasn’t sure which direction to go from here so I asked White if he was having any luck with Basar.

  “No, how about you?”

  “Well, the accounts that the embezzled funds went to are in Keffler’s name.”

  “I almost expected that. Can you link him to the data transfers? That’s what we really need.”

  “No, but…” I had been testing a theory while we had been talking and had finally found something that could maybe help us.

  “But what?”

  “I’ve found that some of the earliest bank transactions initiated from a computer outside of the company. I’m not sure, but I think it could be his home computer.”

  “I’ll get Green on it immediately.” White rose from his chair and called Green. He told him to get a copy of the hard drive from Keffler’s home computer. When he finished explaining everything to Green he hung up and told me Green expected to have it later this evening, tomorrow at the latest.

  “White, I’ve been thinking. If Keffler has done all of this then maybe he’s the one who put the hit out on me and Ed and Ken and Randolph. That is assuming Ed and Randolph are no longer in the land of the living.”

  “That would make sense. You said Ken and Randolph had brought all this to his attention and if he were the bad guy here, he’d want to do away with everyone who knew anything about this and Ed happens to be the fall guy. Before we can make that assumption we better have some proof. When Red and Brown show up tomorrow we will have better intelligence. I’m guessing Ken knows exactly who paid for those tickets overseas and if he doesn’t it’s more than likely because he’s involved in some way.”

  “It’s getting late and there really isn’t much more we can do until the guys get back with either Ken or the copied hard drive. I think I’m going to go back up to my apartment.”

  “Why don’t you go watch some television in the living room. Green might be back soon and I would rather you were here to take a look at it immediately.”

  “I suppose.” I was disappointed. I had hoped to go to bed because I was really tired. I ended up falling asleep right away on White’s couch and woke up when he lifted me from it.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, going stiff.

  “You’ll be more comfortable in my bed.” He said with a matter of fact tone.

  “No I won’t.” I tried to jump out of his arms.

  “I’m not going to use it and Green hasn’t showed up yet. You might as well get some sleep in a real bed. I’ve slept on that couch before and it always makes my neck hurt the next day.” He had me in his room by this time. I was so nervous when he set me down I couldn’t stand and I plopped down on the bed involuntarily.

  “I’ll come get you when Green shows up.” He shut the door as he left. The bed had been turned down and the lamp on the table next to the bed was glowing softly. I am tired, I told myself and I took my shoes off and climbed in. I lay awake for some time. I was comfortable but the bed smelled like White and that was making me uncomfortable. I jumped at every sound and each time I started to doze off I heard a new sound.

  *****

  Chapter Eighteen

  I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar setting. As soon as my stomach tightened I remembered I was in White’s bedroom. This didn’t help my stomach much but I was able to calm it down. I sat up and put my shoes on and then made the bed. For some strange reason I felt guilty for sleeping in White’s bed.

  I heard voices coming from C.I.C. as soon as I opened the bedroom door. I forced myself out to the main part of the apartment. I moved quietly to hopefully figure out who White was talking to.

  “We should have a meeting,” I heard Red say.

  “Yes we should, but you need to get all the information you can from Ken first. Plus, I’m still waiting on Green and Keffler’s hard drive.”

  “That’s fine, but you’ll have to call Grey down here when he shows up.”

  “That’s not a problem, she’s already here.”

  “Really? You say that like it’s insignificant.” Red responded with disbelief.

  “I have Phil and his men keeping a close eye on Strom right now, so I thought it would be wise to keep her here. Besides, she fell asleep on the couch so I just moved her to the bedroom.”

  “Uh huh, so I’m guessing you didn’t get much sleep.” Red was taunting White.

  “Red,” White’s tone became ominous, “if anything ever were to happen between Alex and I it would be serious because I won’t play with the job that way, or her. I don’t appreciate your tone or your implication.”

  “Fine. But you can understand my attitude, given your track record.”

  “I suppose, but it’s different now so don’t push it.” Then, to change the subject, “I’d like to talk to Ken right now, but I think we should let him get some sleep.”

  “That’s another thing, where should we put him? We already have Strom here and I don’t really want to put them together.” Red noted.

  “We could have him room with Black. He’s an early riser but I don’t think
he’d be up this early,” there was a short pause then White added, “Grey isn’t using her apartment at the moment, maybe we could stash him there for now.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, at least not unless you ask her.”

  I moved away from the door to C.I.C. toward the coffee pot and replied in a raised voice. “It’s fine. I need to go back up there and clean up anyway.” I didn’t receive a response right away but then both men came out of C.I.C.

  “How long have you been up?” White asked.

  “A while, do you want some coffee?” I had been surprised at how serious White had been when he admonished Red for making jokes at our expense and I was also impressed. I decided not to be such a pain in the ass today. Tomorrow was a different day though.

  They both replied yes to my coffee question so while it was brewing I took enough cups out of the cupboard.

  “So, Green isn’t back yet?”

  “No, but he might wait until Keffler leaves for work before he breaks in. It just depends on the situation. Keffler lives alone, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes, so the house should be empty when he leaves for work so it would be safer if Green waited.” I replied. “I just feel like we are really close and I want to get to work.”

  I let the men finish their coffee before I mentioned getting Ken up to my apartment. I was in dire need of a shower and I wanted to get it over with. I could have showered at White’s but I hated the thought, besides, my toothbrush was at the apartment.

  “I’ll meet you there,” I said as the three of us walked out of the apartment.

  “No you won’t. You will stay with us,” Red said as he pushed the 7th floor button.

  White and I stood outside the elevator and waited for Red to bring Ken to us. It didn’t take long before Ken, Red and Brown came walking our direction. We all boarded the elevator and made our way to my apartment.

  I unlocked the door and White pushed me aside. “This floor has been unguarded all night and I just want to take a look,” he tried to justify it.