“You’ve agreed to give this guy days, weeks of my time on a promise that he’s going to disclose to you security breaches that he probably created. You’ve put me in a very vulnerable position. I don’t even know where I am. He said we’re in Kentucky, but when I found the company phone number on the rented furniture bill of lading, it was a Virginia area code.”
“Do you know who Sun-Tzu is?”
“What?”
“He was a Chinese general.”
Bonnie raised her hand and ran it along the wall, looking for a crevice. She scanned the room making sure Brandt and his crew hadn’t entered.
“He said to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. You’re doing great. See what he comes up with and keep me posted.”
Bonnie ended the phone call and walked over to the desk where she noticed Brandt had set his satchel. She sat down and attempted to login using the code that was on his phone.
“What are you doing?” Brandt said.
Bonnie turned toward his voice. He stood at the table with a glass of ice and a can of diet Coke.
“Trying to use your computer.” The login didn’t work. “What’s your password?”
“Go ahead, Batman, tell Catwoman what your password is,” Sheri said as she walked down the spiral staircase though if Bonnie hadn’t been looking at her, she wouldn’t have known she was descending. The staircase appeared to be wrought iron, but it couldn’t be. Sheri’s footsteps made no sound.
“Catwoman?” David asked.
Bonnie could have sworn he hadn’t been in the room a second ago. “Can you all put on bells or something? All of this silent movement is disconcerting.”
“Wait until you meet their kids.”
“She is not meeting our kids,” Sheri snapped.
“How old are your boys, Bonnie?” Brandt asked.
“Five and eight.”
Brandt bounced on his heels and grinned at Sheri who glared in return. “Let’s sit down at the table and get this over with,” she said. Pulling a remote from her jacket pocket, she pushed a button and the light dimmed in the room. One of the large wall monitors changed from the computer logon into the Commonwealth of Kentucky state seal.
And the presentation began.
About ten minutes into it, a chime sounded in the room. The room lightened.
David, Brandt, and Sheri exchanged looks.
“What’s that sound?” Bonnie asked.
“Bonnie.” Brandt stood and took her hand. “I’m sorry. Would you come with me?” He pulled her to her feet and escorted her upstairs to a small sitting room with a window. He gave her a look of apology before he closed the door behind him. It all happened so quickly she didn’t have time to react until she was alone. Bonnie strode over to the door to see if he’d locked her in. She turned the knob and moved the door. No, she wasn’t locked in, at least. The tension in her chest loosened at bit, and she examined the room—a loveseat, matching chair, and coffee table. She walked over to another door and opened it. Interesting. An empty closet with a recessed wall. False back? Bonnie looked for a handle or anything that would open it but gave up after a few minutes. She went to the window and looked out into a flat field behind the house. It seemed if it was a horse farm with the requisite fences, it would have… Something caught Bonnie’s attention. A helicopter flew low on the horizon, and to Bonnie’s surprise, landed close to the house, yet there was no sound. What was it about this house that everything was so quiet? As close as the helicopter was, she should be able to hear the engine and the propellers. What kind of window was this, anyway? Bonnie reached up and knocked on the glass and discovered it wasn’t regular glass. It was much thicker, and made a dull thud when she tapped it. She knocked a little harder. Nothing. Experimentally, she tried harder, finally with her fist, and there was no give whatsoever.
The door opened, and Brandt strode in. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve got to go.”
“What? Where?” Bonnie’s heart began to beat heavily in her chest.
“Assignment. But don’t worry, Sheri and David will take care of you. I wanted to take you to a nice lunch. Will you give me a rain check?”
Don’t leave me here, please! “But… Brandt… I don’t….”
“I trust Dave and Sheri with my life. I have trusted them with my life. They’ll get you back home, I promise. I’ll call you.” He left, leaving the door ajar. Instead of following him out of the room, Bonnie turned back to the window. Sure enough, in a moment, he appeared outside carrying a black duffel, entered the helicopter, and it lifted off.
“Bonnie?” Sheri stood at the door.
Bonnie didn’t look behind her. Instead she watched the helicopter become smaller and smaller. Uneasiness settled around her. When she couldn’t see it anymore, she finally turned and gazed at Sheri.
Sheri’s attention focused on the window for a few seconds. “Come on,” she said with a tone of resignation. “We’ll show you what we have, then I’ll drive you back to the airstrip.”
“Is he doing something dangerous?” Bonnie asked.
Sheri’s pinched lips relaxed. She tipped her head, considering Bonnie’s question. “He’ll be okay.”
Bonnie didn’t like the other woman’s response because she, in effect, hadn’t answered Bonnie.
David took the lead with the rest of the security demonstration, pointing out several risks which Brandt had already mentioned to her—the schedule of the security guards and the cleaning crew, the practice of employees not logging off their computers, and outdated security features. In addition to those issues, David proposed software that automatically logged off after four minutes of inactivity, prompts for password changes, encrypted email with appropriate blocks, and a secure cloud.
“All of this is common sense kind of stuff,” David said. “And something you all should have been doing years ago.”
“In addition, we think the building should have an alarm system and IT ought to have a person on staff whose only job is information security,” Sheri commented.
“And he…or she…should be high-tier-level so that decisions administratively are made with that person’s input or guidance.”
“Great. That’s all the Commonwealth needs. Another chief in the penthouse.”
“The security there is vulnerable. Unless something changes, it’s just a matter of time before a hacker comes in and has all of your benefits routed to an offshore account, and too bad for the Kentucky teachers,” Sheri said.
David slid a stack of glossy folders toward her. “This is our report in duplicate. You can give it to Vivian Walker and anyone else you think should see it.”
Bonnie opened the top folder and thumbed through the ten-page document.
Impressive.
“Do you have any questions?” Sheri asked.
“You mean I can ask questions now?”
She smiled—the first time today. “About the report, yes.”
“Will the telephone number work if I call it?”
“For as long as we are consulting for you, yes.”
“How dangerous is the mission Brandt’s on?”
“That is not a question about the report,” Sheri said.
“How long should I wait for him to call me before I start to worry?”
Sheri and David looked at each other. Sheri shook her head. David maintained eye contact with Sheri as he spoke. “Finding his brother is very important to Brandt. I’m sure he will be in touch with you soon to learn if you’ve made any progress.”
“How soon? By tonight? Or a couple of days? A week?”
“I’m sorry. We can’t give you a timeline,” David said.
“If something were to happen to him, would you let me know?”
“Nothing is going to happen to him. He’s very good at his job,” Sheri said.
“Bonnie, I think Brandt was hoping you and he could get started on your research to find Marshall. He set up a log-in for you, but if you want to go back now, we can drive you to
the plane and you can go on back home.”
The discomfort Bonnie had felt since Brandt left, eased a bit. “Really?”
Sheri arched an eyebrow. “Brandt said we’d take care of you, so we’re going to take care of you.” She looked across the table at David. “Isn’t that right, David? We’re going to take care of Bonnie?”
“Is taking care of me a figure of speech for,” Bonnie placed her fingers up and gestured with air quotes, “Taking care of me?”
Sheri’s mouth turned up in a smile that looked more sinister than amused.
Chapter Twelve
Bonnie did arrive back in Carlton Heights safely and before lunch. She delivered the information to Vivian Walker’s office though she wasn’t there to receive it. Bonnie tied up some loose ends on her own work before surfing the web looking for anything on the night Brandt and his brother were separated, or his mother’s death. She didn’t find anything, so she headed over to the library to look up archived newspapers. Surely, there would be something in the newspaper about the incident. She put her phone on vibrate in case Brandt called or texted her, but nothing came through.
A week went by, and she still hadn’t heard from Brandt.
One morning, she stood in the bathroom putting on her make-up when an argument from the breakfast table between the boys caught her attention.
“They do not!” Andy said hotly.
“Yeah, they do,” Curtis responded.
“Shut up.”
“Hey.” Bonnie stepped into the kitchen. “Andy, you know you’re not allowed to say that.”
“Mom, Curtis said angels are boys.”
“Right.”
“Nuh-uh. All the angels I’ve seen are girls.”
“Andy, I’m sure angels are both boys and girls, but Gabriel was a boy. He was the one who told Mary she was going to have a baby. He might be the most famous angel.”
“What about Lucifer?” Kayla strolled into the room and reached for a can of cola. “He’s pretty popular.”
Bonnie snagged the drink from her daughter’s hand and replaced it with a glass and gestured to the milk on the table. “No Coke for breakfast. You need calcium.”
“Who’s Lucifer?” Curtis asked.
“I don’t like milk,” Kayla said.
“Have chocolate milk.”
“It’s still milk, and I’m not a kid.”
“Who’s Lucifer?” Curtis repeated.
“He’s the devil,” Kayla said, batting her eyes at her mother.
“The devil!” Andy exclaimed. “I thought his name was Satin.”
“Satan, you little twerp.” Kayla went to the sink and poured water in her glass.
“At least eat some yogurt, and no name calling or educating the boys on demonology.”
“What’s demology?” Curtis asked.
“Fine. You have to control every single thing. Who I see. What I wear. What I eat. What I say.” She opened the refrigerator and grabbed a yogurt.
Bonnie turned and inspected her daughter for any frays in her jeans that were too provocative or whether her shirt was long enough to cover her midriff.
Kayla rolled her eyes and retrieved a spoon. “I’m eating this in my room.”
“At the table, please, and shut the silverware drawer.” Bonnie walked back in the bathroom before an argument could begin.
Andy appeared at the doorway. “Mom, angels don’t smoke, do they?”
“I seriously doubt it.”
“Curtis said our guardian angel smokes.”
“Honey, I really don’t think angels smoke.” Suspicion niggled at Bonnie. Did Rex smoke? Was he coming to the house at night after everyone was in bed? Bonnie made a mental note to look outside Kayla’s window for cigarette butts. “Smoking is bad for you. Why would angels do it?”
“They do,” Curtis called.
“Well, they shouldn’t,” Bonnie called back.
She took the children to school and went on to work. Sitting at her desk, she fingered a petal from the arrangement Brandt had sent. The flowers looked as fresh as the day they had been delivered—no sign of wilting anywhere. She’d have to remember to use this florist the next time she ordered flowers.
Her work on Brandt’s case had yet to turn up anything. She’d called in a favor from Ted, Alicia’s husband who worked on the police force. She’d told him the story Brandt had shared with her and asked if he knew how to get a hold of police records from over thirty-five years ago. He’d promised to look into it and get back to her.
****
Bonnie dreamed she was in her grandparents’ house, the box fans whirred as she walked on the tiled floor the living room, noting Hee Haw on the console television in the corner as she walked to the front and peered through the screen door. The squeak of the chain from the porch swing alerted her someone was outside.
She grinned at the hole in the screen, about the size of her brother Mackey’s foot when he’d kicked a little too well at a fly on the other side. It had never been repaired. She pushed the door open and stepped through the threshold.
The loud chorus of the cicadas greeted her. The sweet aroma of pipe tobacco wafted on the breeze, and Bonnie turned and saw Grandpa and Grandma settled next to each other on the bench seat swaying back and forth with the nudge of Grandpa’s boots.
“Hi, honey,” Grandma said.
Bonnie walked across the porch and sat on the stoop, leaning back on the post to face them as she’d done hundreds of times as a child.
“Where’s Bubba?” She asked, referring to Mackey by his nickname.
Grandpa puffed on his pipe, and Bonnie inhaled the scent.
“He’s not here. I imagine he’s out by the creek catching crawdads. Why don’t you go fetch him, then we’ll have some coconut cake?” Grandma said.
Bonnie couldn’t recall the rest of the dream when she awoke. But the sense of peace she felt stayed with her. She had thought about Brandt often since he’d flown away on the helicopter, but after her dream, the anxiety she felt for his safety dissipated, though Bonnie didn’t understand why.
She spent her lunch hour each day in the library looking through newspaper archives. She’d been through the whole month of October of the year Brandt had told her he thought the incident had occurred. She then began to look though the files for September. Still nothing.
Saturday morning, she took the boys to the library and decided to look at October of the previous year and found an article of police being called to a domestic disturbance on the street Brandt had told her he had lived. There were no further details of the case, but it was October twenty-fifth. It was likely that a jack-o’-lantern would be on the neighbor’s porch. Bonnie would have to ask Brandt if it was possible it had happened when he was six and not seven. She called Ted and followed up on old cases, and he referred her to Donald Murriel, the public information officer, from the nearest precinct. She called him the following Monday, and he advised her to come to the precinct to fill out a request for the case file which she did on her lunch break.
She decided to give it a week before she called Donald again to ask if he’d had any luck locating the file.
****
“Bonnie.”
Brandt’s soft voice awoke her. She blinked, wondering if she had dreamed it. Him.
The clock said it was just before one in the morning.
“Are you awake?”
She hadn’t dreamed it. He was here in her bedroom. Bonnie looked around. At least she thought he was. She sat up, drawing the covers to her. A shadow separated itself from the darkness, and Brandt stood next to her closed bedroom door.
“What are you doing in my house?”
“I tried to text you. You didn’t answer.”
“You cannot come in my—”
“Your daughter, Kayla, isn’t it? She just snuck out.”
“What?” Bonnie threw back the comforter she had previously used to shield herself and dashed to her dresser. “Why didn’t you follow her?” She wrenched off
her nightgown and grabbed a shirt putting it on quickly, then pulled on a pair of jeans.
“I wasn’t sure you’d want me to.”
“Of course, I want you to. How are we going to find her?” Finding some shoes in the closet, she shoved her feet in them.
“I put a tag on her.”
“What?”
“A GPS device.”
“How’d you do that?”
“I just got close enough to her and put it on her pants, but if she takes her pants off, and goes somewhere else, we’re out of luck.”
“Oh, shoot. I can’t leave the boys.”
She picked up her cell, noted two texts Brandt had sent, then called Veda who picked up on the first ring. “Veda, I’m sorry to call you in the middle of the night, but Kayla snuck out of the house, and I need to go find her. Is there any way I can bring the boys over?”
“Don’t be silly. I’ll just come over there.”
In five minutes, Veda knocked on the door. Brandt had already gone outside. His black clothes would be difficult to spot in the dark. Bonnie figured he’d left to avoid Bonnie having to answer questions about whom he was. Bonnie would marvel at how he could just vanish except it was often more irritating than amazing, and at this moment, rage and worry over Kayla wrestled in Bonnie’s gut. She looked around quickly from the door to the car, and saw he was already in the passenger seat.
She didn’t bother asking him how he got in when it was locked.
“Where to?” she asked as she cranked the engine.
He looked at his cell phone. “She was on Adams Street. She’s on the move.”
“Is she in a car?”
“Yes, but she must have just gotten in. She’s headed north on Oakview.” He paused. “Huh.”
“What?”
“They’re crossing the Elam Avenue Bridge into Ohio.”
“Oh, my God. Where is he taking her?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”
“Why can’t he just leave her alone?”
“Because he’s a teenage boy, and he likes her. Don’t you have a tracker on her phone?”
“Yes, I do, but I took her phone away. I’m going to lock her in her room until she’s thirty.”
Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set Page 103
