Open Secret

by Fiona Quinn

  “You’re going to do fine,” Honey said. “Keep it natural. Let it work its way into conversation.”

  “Mention that we’ll have to do a background check,” Nutsbe said. “That might be the time when you ask her real name.”

  “From what I told you, did your AI programs figure out who she is?” Avery asked.

  Nustbe showed Avery a picture on his screen.

  Avery peered down at it. “Yes. Well…I think so. This photo is younger. Plumper. And Goth. She doesn’t really look like this now. But she’s got that mole there by her hair line.” Avery reached up and touched her own head where the mole could be found. “And she has that little cleft in her chin.” She touched her chin. “So what is her name?”

  “We’re not going to give you any information about her that you don’t already know, so it doesn’t slip out by accident,” Rowan said. “We don’t want her to have a heads up.”

  Avery dropped her voice to a whisper. “Do you think she’s dangerous?”

  “Not at all. She’s out in the middle of nowhere. She lives alone as far as we can tell from our satellite surveillance. It’s just you and her. And we’ll be nearby. We can hear you and see what you see. You go in and chat, try to find out what you can. See if you can’t get the name of her contact and come out.”

  “Then she’ll be arrested?”

  “Right now, we won’t arrest her. Instead, we’ll watch what she does, with whom she interacts. We’re hoping to gather more people into our net. To that end, you might want to start by talking about Inge Prokhorov. Think about any connections you’ve had with Patrick Windsor’s wife and see if you can’t make that work for you. Lastly, and most importantly, we want to see if you can’t get to her computer and plant our spyware in there.”

  “Not malware?”

  “We’re the good guys. Ours is called spyware.”

  “What are the chances that Taylor’s computer is encrypted and has self-destruct capabilities?” Avery asked.

  “High.” Honey handed her the blouse she was going to wear, the wire now integrated into the seam.

  “Isn’t it illegal for me to do this? Record someone in Virginia without their knowledge and plant spyware?”

  “Rowan and Lisa have electronic surveillance warrants. You signed the contracts with Iniquus. We’ll provide you with all necessary legal support. We won’t let anything bad happen to you. I promise.”

  A shiver raked through Avery’s body. In books, Avery knew, if a character ever offered an unsolicited promise, that promise would be broken.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Rowan

  Monday Evening

  Warrenton, Virginia

  “We have an ID on bullet boy. He’s Bradford Michael Sullivan.” That was Lisa over the speaker. She was at Iniquus Headquarters with Margot, working the cases from their computers.

  Lisa thought that having three different groups attacking was actually extremely helpful to finding the mastermind. Two groups who performed physical attacks had already been identified. It would be interesting to see if this was the same strategy that Avery mapped out on the Iniquus white board Saturday night.

  Avery had charted the Russian roommate as the hub with each spoke that made Taylor Knapp’s work into a weapon extending out from that central player. That was significant.

  Knowing if Taylor’s video game was the hub for this set of crimes would be significant too.

  It sucked to be personally caught up in this. It really sucked that this was affecting Avery.

  But here they were.

  It was time to figure it out and make it stop.

  Brad Sullivan, though, wasn’t cooperating. Lisa said he’d lawyered up and didn’t want to talk. The FBI got a search warrant on his house.

  That was fast.

  Not fast enough for Margot and Lisa, though. They decided to hack into his computer.

  “Ah.” Nutsbe chuckled. “Are you finding anything?”

  “Plenty,” Margot said. “You ready for this, Kennedy?”

  “Probably not, but hit me with it anyway.” They were sitting in chairs in front of a bank of electronics equipment in a tricked out cargo van a klick down the road from the farm Taylor Knapp was renting. From here, they could provide Avery with a hot spot for her phone and monitor her feeds.

  They were there early to make sure that everything was set up and functioning properly. Avery would follow in her own car.

  Nutsbe had given her the green light to proceed.

  “Sorry about that. Lisa just handed me some new data, and I was looking it over. Okay, The night that Lisa opened the Word file sent from Avery with Lisa’s short story edits, is the same day that—” Margot stopped. “Let me back up. Patriots Pledge is comprised of upper tier players in The Unrest. Lisa said that from her research, once someone attains that level, they seemed to be attached to a charismatic figure. The charismatic then encouraged them to form bonds. In the group made up of Patriots Pledge members, it looks like their charismatic contacted them off the game via the ShareItApp.”

  “Oh good,” Nutsbe said. “So none of this was picked up by signals intelligence.”

  “We still have the files,” Margot said. “Brad doesn’t clean his computer.”

  “Or use basic protection on his computer,” Lisa threw in. “His password was ‘password’.”

  “Okay…” Rowan wanted them to get to the good stuff.

  “The charismatic goes by Gusto,” Lisa said with a laugh.

  “Of course he does.” Rowan did a mental eye roll.

  “Gusto has a Bulgarian IP as one would expect with Inge Prokhorov involved. I’m going to see if I can’t find his social media handles. Check out his banners and see if this charismatic happens to have the Prokhorov symbol in the bottom left.”

  “Yup. That’s what I’d be interested in.”

  “This is how it ties to you, Kennedy,” Margot said. “Gusto wrote that he came across some information that Rowan Kennedy, along with your two jihadist brides, Lisa Griffin and Avery Goodyear, are plotting against the United States.”

  “We’re married!” Lisa called out and Rowan could hear clapping. “I can’t wait to tell Sandra. She’s going to be thrilled that her girlfriend is married to a guy.”

  “The charismatic told the Patriots Pledge that you, Kennedy,” Margot continued, “were going to shoot POTUS at his speech last Tuesday.”

  “What?” Rowan looked down at his boots as he processed that thought. If the Patriots Pledge guys thought the POTUS was in danger, why wouldn’t they have called the FBI or Secret Service or someone with capabilities? Why would they grab a gun and run to the would-be assassin’s house to ambush him on his jog.

  “Yup.” Margot continued, “Then the charismatic said that something needed to be done to save the POTUS. And, oh, by the way, I know where he lives and better yet, where he jogs. Then Gusto posted a graphic of both running directions and how long it took for you to get to one of three points mapped in each direction. Gusto said it looks like rain on Monday. And that if he, Gusto, was planning an op, he’d wait for the skies to clear. That it should happen after nine, according to the weather channel. Then he stepped back. The boys on the Patriots Pledge are true believers and one hundred percent dedicated to the POTUS. They decided they’d capture you and torture you until you exposed everyone involved with the plot to kill the president.”

  “And not take the threat to the FBI,” Honey said.

  “FBI is part of the deep state,” Margot replied.

  “Right. So I guess it was up to Patriots Pledge to take me down,” Rowan deadpanned. Gullible group. “Did they have my picture?”

  “No,” Lisa said. “They asked for one and were told that no picture was available. So that’s really good news. The Patriots Pledge probably identified you by watching you leave your house. It’s a damned good thing they didn’t catch you. Margot looked through this guy’s Internet search history. He doesn’t clean that out either. And amongst the p
orn sites, there were ‘how to water board’ videos, among other torture tutorials.”

  “Well, crap.”

  “Yeah,” Lisa said.

  “So when they didn’t get to me, they just decided to watch and see what happened next?” Rowan asked. “Does that make sense?

  Margot’s voice came over the comms. “They figured out that another group had targeted you. They were making fun of the spray paint. Like that would stop you from killing POTUS. Patriots Pledge knows you’re not home. They’re trying to figure out where you work. They’re not coming up with anything. Which seems weird. The charismatic should be able to track your GPS history if they’re good with computers, which we have to assume.”

  “Oh, you weren’t there when I explained that at the hotel,” Lisa said to Margot. “I designed a GPS filter that Rowan and I are field testing. Besides wiping our histories, in case someone was following real-time, when either Rowan or I get near an FBI site, the GPS continues down the road until it gets to the next strip mall and places the car there. It functions again after we’re two miles away. It’s so if this happened, no one could figure out where we work. Anyway, it’s something I’m playing around with, trying to find the bugs in the system before I offer it to others.”

  “Excellent,” Margot said. “We’d like to stay in that loop.”

  “Avery’s in the house,” Honey said. “Let’s stop the chatter.”

  The image that Avery was capturing with her glasses came up on the screen. A woman, about Avery’s height, slender, hair back in a messy bun, wearing a pair of black yoga pants and an over-sized t-shirt, opened the door.

  “Hey there,” Avery said.

  Rowan could hear the nerves in her voice. “Let’s see the picture you have of her.”

  Nutsbe put it up side by side with a still shot from the glasses. Bingo.

  “Did you really move to the bed and breakfast so you could babysit me?” The woman backed from the door and started down a short hallway.

  “Does that mean you’ve identified the Katya-roommate?” Rowen whispered.

  “Katerina Sokolov,” Nutsbe whispered back without letting his focus stray from the video feed. “We’re looking for her.”

  “Sorry,” Avery said. “But, yeah, my boss said he’d fire me if I didn’t come. So here I am, keeping my job.”

  “Men are assholes,” Taylor said over her shoulder.

  “Nutsbe do you have the house schematics?” Rowan asked.

  Nutsbe touched a button, and not only did a schematic come up, but a red dot that moved with Avery as she shut the front door and followed after the woman.

  Avery arrived in a bright yellow kitchen. She moved like she was familiar with the set up and walked straight to a stool and sat down. “They can be. How’s Goose? Does he have a shed out back?”

  “He sleeps in the barn. He’s fine. I got to ride him earlier. He needed the exercise. I’m drinking. Do you like white Russians?”

  “I don’t know that I’ve ever tried one. But since I’m driving, a glass of water would be nice.”

  Taylor turned on Avery and sent her an “are you kidding me?” kind of snarl. “You’re driving a mile and a half up a deserted road. What’s going to happen to you, you’re going to hit a cow?”

  “Just a personal policy.” Her glasses bobbled. “It keeps me out of trouble.”

  “Goody two-shoes like you?” Taylor spun back and mixed her cocktail in what looked like a pretty hefty sized glass. “You’ve never been in trouble a day in your life.”

  “Probably because I have this no drinking and driving policy.” Avery laughed.

  Taylor took a sip from her glass, moved to the counter, grabbed a stack of papers, and handed them to Avery. Taylor pulled out a drawer and handed her a red pen. “You read these. I’m going to take a long hot bath and get changed into pajamas. It’s been a tiresome day.”

  “You know what?” Avery said. “I’d rather just edit them in a Word program. That way when you send me the file, I have the track changes.” She pushed the pages to the side.

  “Good job!” Nutsbe said under his breath.

  Taylor took a long sip from her glass. Eyeing her. The goody-two-shoes comment probably meant that she didn’t suspect Avery of anything.

  “Fine.” Taylor reached over to her desk for a lap top. She opened the lid and booted up, found the file, and handed the computer over to Avery.

  “Thank you.” Avery focused on the first page then looked up to watch until Taylor was out of sight.

  “Is that weird?” Honey asked. “Taylor leaving Avery alone like that? Isn’t Avery kind of like the boss in this dynamic?”

  “She’s a creative type,” Lisa said over the comms. “Who knows what she’s thinking. Could be a prima donna. She took her drink.” She and Margot could see everything the men in the van were seeing from their location in the Panther Force war room back at Iniquus Headquarters.

  “You got Taylor’s landline phone tapped, though, right Honey?” Lisa asked.

  “We got audio in place to monitor her home and landline Saturday when Avery gave us the farm’s address. With no Wifi in the area, Taylor uses a hot spot on her computer. That’s probably why she felt safe handing it to Avery. The hot spot’s turned off right now. Taylor doesn’t know that there’s wifi available, and Avery can make contact.”

  They watched Avery look up to the ceiling when the sound of water in the shower was picked up. Then she slowly walked from room to room. Probably trying to show them what was there. She carried the computer into a den area and curled in the chair. She pulled the thumb drive from her pocket and pushed it into place.

  She typed on the screen: What do you want me to do now? Paused for them to read it from her glasses camera, then erased it.

  For someone who was freaked out about being a spy, she was doing a great job. Rowan was really proud of her.

  But something had him by the craw, and he wanted her out of that house. Now.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Rowan

  Monday Night

  Warrenton, Virginia

  Nutsbe texted – You’re doing fine. Green light on the thumbnail. Put the thumbnail into your pocket. Edit Word file until Taylor comes back down. Then broach FBI Red Cell. Erase text after reading.

  They had explained to Avery that they were scrambling the airwaves in a perimeter just beyond the van, and if they texted, the bad guys wouldn’t be able to read them. But they needed to keep the contact to an absolute minimum.

  When the text dropped into her cell, it buzzed in Avery’s pocket. She pulled her phone out and read the instructions. They watched her erase the text and set her phone on the side table.

  Avery pulled out the thumb drive and put it deep into her pocket. Then she started editing.

  “Chances that Taylor will own up to the fact that she got the research notes from elsewhere if Avery suggests the Red Cell?” Margot asked.

  “I can’t imagine that she’d cooperate in any way, shape, or form,” Rowan said. He didn’t like that Avery had left her phone out. She shouldn’t be able to use it in that house. It was dangerous to make it buzz with another text, though, to tell her. Avery could probably cover by saying she’d forgotten it wouldn’t work or something. “If it’s possible to get Taylor to comply, Avery will find a way,” he said.

  “You don’t need to convince me,” Margot said. “I’m team Avery.”

  “Hey, Honey. In Brussels last week, when you and Thorn were at the event. You did me a solid. Thank you. There’s some chatter that you guys had a tough assignment after that. Everyone pull out okay?” Rowan asked. “I didn’t see Thorn in the halls.”

  “Thorn’s assigned to a personal protection contract. Panther Force is healthy.”

  “Good to hear.”

  “I’m marking the board,” Nutsbe said. “Avery has a green light on the spyware. I’m in the computer and behind Taylor’s firewall. I’m downloading data. The safest thing Avery can do is keep doing what she
’s doing.”

  “While we’re just hanging out. I can pass you more information about two of the three attacks this week,” Margot said.

  “Yeah? What have you got?” Rowan asked.

  “Once we identified members of FlashDeath, the group of men who attacked your houses, Prescott handed over the names to the PD. We just got word that the DCPD is getting them rounded up. The Flash Death guys will be sitting on ice when you get done with Avery’s mission.” There was a pause. “Yup, I just got a message that the round up is a go.”

  “I’ll be glad to talk with them,” Rowan said.

  He had to admit it. Sitting in this van was harder than he thought it would be. His antennae was up and pinging hard.

  Avery should be in zero danger. Rowan didn’t know if he was picking up on her nerves, if this was what it was like to think of a loved one talking to the enemy, or if this was the early warning system he’d developed in combat. His emotions around Avery were too new for him to be able to make out the differences.

  The one thing he knew was this sucked.

  “We already know FlashDeath members play Taylor’s game,” Lisa said. “And have a charismatic cheering them on. It’s all in their social media chatter.”

  “No word yet on who hacked Avery’s phone and sent out that video?”

  “I got some code samples,” Lisa said. “I’m going to see if I can’t spot a signature in there. This is too advanced for some wannabe. Whoever did this is top notch.”