by Terri Reid
Reece hung up before the young man could reply and pounded his fist against his desk. “This is not what I needed right now,” he yelled.
His cell phone rang. He glanced down, saw the number, and his heart dropped. He took a deep breath and picked up the phone. “This is the judge,” he said, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.
“Your emails have just been compromised,” the electronically modified voice said.
“No, that’s impossible,” Reece said. “I have a secure server.”
“The hacker was sophisticated and was able to avoid detection,” the voice continued, “but was unable to follow the link back through to us. However, they got close enough to make us feel uncomfortable. We don’t like to feel uncomfortable.”
Reece took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. I understand,” he replied. “I personally assure you that this will be taken care of.”
“We will hold you to that promise,” the voice said, and then the connection ended.
Reece closed his eyes and took another deep breath. Things were spinning out of control, and he had to take control now. He lifted his phone and dialed another number. “This is Callahan,” he said when a voice answered. “I have a job for you. I don’t want her killed, but I want to put her out of commission for a long time. A very long time.”
Chapter Thirty-five
Sam carried the last box into the apartment and kicked the door closed behind him.
“Is that the last one?” Tom asked, coming out of the guest bedroom. “Because if it’s not, we’re going to have to start piling things in the bathroom.”
Chuckling, Sam put the box down on the floor. “Yeah, that’s it,” he said. “Now, if they actually find a place for Brooke to move into, we get to do this all over again.”
Tom shook his head. “No, I think I just pulled a muscle,” he said, rubbing his upper arm. “Yeah, I think I must have dislocated my shoulder. Sorry, I won’t be able to help Brooke move again. I feel really bad about that.”
“Yeah, I can see that, man,” Sam said. “Really bad. I’ll make sure Art calls your mom and lets her know.”
Tom winced. “Not my mom, man,” he begged. “She’ll make me go see a doctor.”
“Well, you know, if your shoulder is dislocated, you really ought to see a doctor,” Sam replied. “Or, you know, your mom can give you some of the home remedies Art told me about.”
“Oh, man, those stink,” Tom said, and then he sighed loudly. “Okay, fine, just have Art call me when you have to move this stuff again. I’ll be here.”
Sam laughed aloud. “I’ll do that,” he said. “So, are you heading out now?”
Tom nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got to get ready for work,” he said, shrugging into his jacket. “How about you?”
“I thought I’d hang here for a while,” he said. “I want to give Niki back her keys.”
Tom grinned. “Yeah, sure, give her back her keys,” he teased. “I’m sure that’s the only reason you want to hang here.”
Sam shrugged and turned away from Tom. “Hey, no big deal,” he said. “I just want to make sure she makes it home safely.”
“Right,” Tom said, walking to the door. “And who’s going to keep her safe once she gets here?”
“Get out of here, O’Reilly,” Sam said, tossing his head in the direction of the door. “And make sure you rub down those arm muscles. We’re going to need you tomorrow.”
“Shut up, Sam,” Tom said, letting himself out the door. “And good luck.”
After the door closed, Sam walked over to the window overlooking the front of the building and gazed out. The night sky was clear, and there were stars shining in the midnight blue above Lake Michigan. He turned back and looked at the apartment. “How would it be to live in a castle in the sky like this?” he asked himself.
Shaking his head, he pulled Niki’s keys out of his pocket and tossed them in the air a couple of times. What the hell was he doing, waiting here for her? He was so not in her league. Glancing over, he saw his reflection in a mirror on the wall. “Yeah, what you see is what you get,” he said to his reflection. “Hey girl, anytime you want to go slumming, you should look me up.”
With a final shake of his head, he tossed the keys toward a silver bowl resting on the counter. “See you later, Niki,” he said. Then he watched in dismay as the keys hit the middle of the bowl, slid out the other side and flew onto the floor.
“Damn,” Sam said, hurrying to the other side of the counter to find them. “I can’t believe I just did that.”
He looked around the counter but couldn’t find them. He moved some of the furniture aside and still didn’t locate them. Finally, on his hands and knees, Sam finally saw the keys laying underneath the vertical blinds at the edge of the window. He crawled over, grabbed them and then pulled himself up. Looking down at his hand, he shook his head. “I’m not an O’Reilly,” he said to the keys. “I don’t believe in signs. I’m not hanging around.”
He started to turn when he saw Niki’s sports car slide into view. A smile appeared, unbidden, on his face as he watched her maneuver the car easily around the corner and dart into the apartment’s garage. “The lady’s got class,” he said admiringly.
He started to turn when he noticed another vehicle, a dark, unmarked van, make a sudden u-turn from across the street and follow Niki’s car into the garage.
“Oh, that’s no good,” he said, running from the apartment and heading down the hall towards the elevator. He punched her number into his cell while he waited for the elevator. “Pick up,” he yelled. “Pick up, Niki!”
The elevator door opened, and Sam weighed his choices. Every moment he waited was a moment more that she would be alone in the garage. But once he entered the elevator, he had no service. With a shake of his head, he made his decision and stepped onto the elevator.
Chapter Thirty-six
Niki pulled into the garage and accelerated as she hit the circular ramp that brought her up to the top level of the garage. She loved pushing the envelope with her car, and it answered with both speed and maneuverability. As she climbed quickly up the ramp, turning the steering wheel with precision and determination, she smiled as she slowly put pressure on the accelerator and watched the speedometer climb. Nearly at her floor, she slowed down a little, exited the ramp and slid into her parking spot. She patted the car’s steering wheel. “Good job,” she whispered to her car.
Reaching over to the passenger’s seat, she grabbed her purse and briefcase, fishing her keys out of the pocket of her purse before she climbed out of her car. She slammed the door and clicked the button on her key fob to lock the door behind her. An answering beep told her she’d been successful. Tucking her briefcase under her arm, she started to walk through the empty garage to the security door.
The sound of an approaching vehicle didn’t faze her as she hurried forward, hoping to be able to catch both Sam and Tom before they left. But when she heard it slow down, she felt a fission of nervousness run up her spine. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the van coming up alongside her. She stepped to the side, but it was too late. The van door slid open, and a man in a ski mask jumped out next to her. Before she could scream, he slapped a gloved hand over her mouth and pulled her against him.
“He didn’t tell me you was so fine,” he whispered in her ear. “He just say take care of you. And baby, me and my friends, we gonna take good care of you.”
At first, Niki was paralyzed with shock, but as soon as his words registered, she started to struggle against him. Kicking out and twisting back and forth, she tried to get away, but his grip was strong. He lifted her up and tossed her into the back of the van, slamming her against the steel body. She cried out in pain. Then he was on top of her, pinning her down with his body. He kicked the door closed. “Go,” he screamed to the driver. “I got her! Go!”
She screamed, and he punched her face. “You shut up, bitch,” he threatened. “They told me not to kill you, but…” He leered down
at her. “Accidents happen.”
She felt the van accelerating and knew that if they got her out of the garage, she’d have no chance of escape. So she continued to fight. She kicked at him, but he pinned her legs between his own. Then he grabbed both of her hands, held them in one of his and lifted them over her head. “Now we playing, bitch,” he said, reaching up with his free hand and ripping her blouse from the collar to her waistband. “We gonna bounce the back of this van, baby.”
The gunshot echoed throughout the van, and suddenly the vehicle careened to the side and crashed. Niki slid along the floor and slammed against the back of the seats. She screamed as the steel braces connected with her ribcage.
Her breathing labored, she looked around the dark interior. It took a moment for her eyes to get used to the lack of light, but she finally could see. Her attacker had been tossed in the air and had landed against the back door of the van. His head was at a funny angle, and his eyes were open, unseeing. “I hope you’re dead,” she whispered at him. “I hope you’re dead and you go straight to hell.”
A moment later, the side door slid open. “Niki,” Sam cried, his gun drawn as he slowly examined the interior.
“Sam,” she whimpered. “I’m here.”
He stuffed his gun into his waistband and slid into the now sideways leaning van. “Can you move sweetheart?” he asked.
“I think I might have broken my ribs,” she said. “It really hurts.”
“I’m afraid it’s going to hurt some more when I pick you up,” he said. “Do you want to wait here while I call for an ambulance?”
She shook her head. “No, please, I don’t want to stay in here,” she said, her voice trembling with fear. “I can deal with the pain, I promise.”
He moved forward and could just see her huddled against the seats. He carefully slid his arms underneath her legs and arms, and then he gently lifted her. She gasped softly but nodded at him, and he slowly brought her out of the van. Once they were out of the darkened van, Sam could see the bruises on her face and her torn blouse. Rage burned inside his body, and he wanted to punch someone. Instead, he lifted her closer to his body and held her as she trembled with aftershock.
“Someone sent him to do this to me,” she sobbed. “He told me someone had sent him.”
Sam held her close. “It’s okay,” he soothed. “I’ve got you, and no one is ever going to hurt you as long as I’m around.”
She looked up at him, her eyes spilling over with tears. “I was so afraid, Sam,” she admitted. “I always thought I was such a bad-ass. But I was afraid.”
“Hey, sweetheart, it’s okay,” he said. “It’s all right to be afraid. Hell, when I saw them taking off with you, I was afraid.”
She sniffled and sent him a watery smile. “Thanks for being here,” she said. “If you hadn’t been here…”
Sam carried her toward the lobby. “Hey, don’t thank me,” he gently teased. “Thank Brooke and her shoe collection.”
Niki laughed and then gasped in pain. “Oh, that hurt.”
“Come on,” Sam insisted. “We’re going to call the police, and then we’re getting you to a hospital.”
Chapter Thirty-seven
The outside doors to the emergency room slid open as Brooke and Art raced through the entrance and towards the nurse’s station. They slowed for a moment for Art to flash his badge at the receptionist and ask for Niki’s room number, and then they were buzzed through the solid beige doors that led into the emergency area.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Brooke said as they half-jogged down the corridor. “If she hadn’t been…”
Art took hold of her arm and stopped her in the middle of the hall. “Wait a minute,” he said, turning her towards him. “Before we walk in and see her, you’ve got to get this straight. This is not your fault.”
Brooke shook her head. “But if she hadn’t—” she began.
“No,” he interrupted. “This is not about you. If Reece sent those bastards to kidnap Niki, and that’s still a big if, it wasn’t your fault. You can be angry, damn angry, but you can’t be guilty.”
She inhaled sharply, and tears filled her eyes. “She’s my best friend,” she whispered hoarsely. “She’s the sister I never had. And she could have…they could have…”
“But they didn’t,” Art said firmly. “They didn’t. And what she needs from you now is strength. She needs you to not be afraid so she can hold on to your strength and pull through this. Do you understand?”
Nodding, Brooke dashed away the tears on her cheeks. “Yeah. Yeah, I do,” she said with a confirming nod. “This isn’t about me or my feelings right now; it’s about Niki and what she needs.”
Art smiled at her. “Exactly,” he said. “Now let’s go see her.”
Entering the room, Brooke gasped softly when she saw the bruises on Niki’s face.
“It’s that bad?” Niki asked from the hospital bed.
Pasting a smile on her face, Brooke shook her head. “Remember the time I made that fruit drink? And I didn’t know that you were allergic to strawberries and put them in it, and you broke out?” she asked.
Niki nodded. “Yeah, I remember,” she said. “I had huge blotches all over my face and neck.”
“That was worse than this,” Brooke replied, walking over to the side of the bed and stroking the hair from her friend’s forehead. “How are you feeling, honey?”
Niki smiled up at Brooke. “I’ve been better,” she replied evenly, and then she shuddered. “But it could have been a whole lot worse.”
Art came up on the other side of the bed, next to where Sam was sitting. “So, tell us what happened,” he encouraged.
Looking from Art to Brooke, Niki sighed. “I don’t know if I should…” she began.
“Of course you should,” Brooke said. “The more you share, the more you talk it out, the less scary it becomes, and you can deal with it.”
“But I don’t want you to feel responsible,” Niki replied.
Brooke smiled and shook her head. “Art and I already had that conversation before we came in here,” she said. “I’m good. I want to hear everything.”
“So, I parked my car—” she started.
“Niki,” Art interrupted. “If you don’t mind, why don’t you begin with what you were doing before that. That way we can consider motive.”
Niki sighed. “Okay, then I need to start with what happened at my office,” she began.
She told them about moving Brooke’s funds and then hacking in to Reece’s email. “I did a search and found an email from this guy who called himself Senator,” she explained. “It was all about their organization delivering a package to Reece’s organization. I printed a copy of it, and I put it in my briefcase. But it also warned him that they’d be watching to make sure nothing out of the ordinary happened to threaten the organization.”
“And then I let the cat out of the bag,” Art said.
“And I learned the truth,” Brooke added.
“And the organization was threatened,” Sam finished. “So, do you think Reece was behind the attack?”
“You know, I deal with all kinds of security issues, and my company has shut a lot of people down,” Niki replied. “So, I’ve made a lot of enemies. But most of those guys are geeks. They try to get back at me by trying to hack into my system. I get cyber-threats all the time.”
“How do you know you’re getting those threats?” Art asked.
“We set up a…” she paused to decide how she should describe it. “We set up a virtual security wall around the other wall that lets us know when someone is trying to break through.”
Then she stopped talking and closed her eyes. “Well, damn,” she said.
“What?” Brooke asked.
“I tried to follow the link from the email that was sent to Reece,” she said. “I only got so far, and I was blocked. If they had the same kind of security I have…”
“So someone would have known that Reece’s
emails had been hacked into, and they would have notified him,” Sam said.
Niki nodded. “Yeah, and it would have been almost immediately.”
“Which would have given him plenty of time to make a call and set things in action,” Art said.
“The guy…the guy who grabbed me,” Niki said, her voice shaking slightly. “He kept saying that ‘he’ sent us and ‘he’ told us he didn’t want you killed. So, whoever wanted this done didn’t want me dead, just beat up pretty badly.”
Brooke placed her hand over Niki’s hand and squeezed it gently. “I’m so sorry,” she said, the feeling of responsibility overwhelming her. “I feel—”
“So what are we going to do about this?” Art asked, interrupting Brooke’s apology.
Niki smiled at Art and slowly shook her head. “We are not going to let them intimidate us,” she said. “We are not going to let them win.”
Sam smiled at her and nodded. “Yeah, but we’re not going to put ourselves in any positions that would make us vulnerable anymore,” he added. “Until this case is solved, we’ve got to have each other’s backs.”
“How do we do that?” Niki asked. “I mean, I can work from home, but you all have jobs.”
There was a knock on the door before it slowly opened. “Sorry for interrupting. I’m looking for my son,” said a voice on the other side of the door.
“Da?” Art asked. “Come in.”
A tall, well-built older man dressed in a police uniform stepped around the door and nodded. “Excuse me,” he said softly to Niki. “I’m sorry to intrude.”
“No. It’s fine,” Niki said. “You’re part of the family.”
He came over next to the bed and smiled down on her. “Thank you. I’m Timothy O’Reilly,” he said. “Art called me and told me what happened to you, and. I wanted to come by and see how you were doing.”
“I’m doing fine,” she said to him. His slight accent and his twinkling blue eyes made her immediately comfortable.
