A Secret to Die For

by Lisa Harris

  Her mind shifted for a moment to the guilt she and Nate had talked about last night. It was easy to give in to the loss. Somehow Macbain had let his own losses destroy who he was.

  “And then what?” she said. “You go live in some third-world country the rest of your life?”

  “I can do what I’m doing here, and live on the beach for a whole lot cheaper. Sounds like the perfect life to me. And have my daughter with me.”

  “You don’t think your ex-wife will fight you on that one?”

  “Shut up and stop asking questions. I’ve got very little time to finish implementing Stephen’s code.”

  “So what happens now? You kill me?”

  Macbain bound her hands behind her with a zip tie, pushed her into a chair, then sat back down where he’d been working. “I’ve learned over the past few days that I can’t trust anyone to do what has to be done. Including taking care of my loose ends. And you’re definitely a loose end.”

  30

  Nate glanced at the ticking clock on the precinct wall. An hour and a half had passed since they’d discovered Gracie and Macbain were missing. They were running out of time. Time for finding Gracie and time for stopping the electric grid from going down. Unless the FBI could find a way to fix the vulnerability Stephen had discovered, the grid would go down. And without actually finding the patch he’d created, the odds of stopping whoever was behind this were slim.

  And the cascading chain of events that would follow were going to change life as they knew it forever.

  “Nate . . . I got you a pumpkin spice crème frappuccino,” Paige said, handing him one of the cups she was carrying. “You might not need the caffeine, but I woke up tired, and I already know it’s going to be a long day.”

  He took a sip of the drink. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He shifted his attention back to his desk where he’d been working the last thirty minutes. The street cam lead had been a bust. They’d caught a grainy photo of two men pulling up outside the building around the time the ME estimated the agents had been shot, but getting a close-up of their faces or license plate number had proven to be impossible.

  Paige set her drink down on his desk. “You’re lost in thought. What’s going on?”

  “Sorry.” He rubbed his pounding temples. “I was just thinking.”

  “About Grace?”

  “Yes, but more than that.” He looked up at her, not sure if he was actually headed in the right direction, or if he was simply desperate for an answer. The FBI had an entire team of agents on this case, and while he believed in his own skills, he also knew that there was no way he could be completely objective on this case.

  “We might not have been working long together,” she said, “but I’m pretty sure I know that look of yours. You’re on to something.”

  “What if Carl Macbain is the one behind this?” he said, deciding to simply throw out what he was thinking.

  “Macbain?” Paige took a step back, the surprise clear in her expression. “Okay . . . I’ll play along, though I’m not sure how that’s possible. Stephen clearly trusted Macbain and even told Grace to go to him. And if he was in on it, why would someone try to kill him along with you and Grace?”

  “Maybe he wasn’t as indispensable to whoever he’s working with as he thought he was.”

  Paige sat down on the edge of his desk and crossed her arms. “Wait a minute. How’s that possible? Macbain has been working with us this entire time.”

  “Maybe.” He grabbed a pile of papers from in front of him. “I was just looking at Stephen’s phone records again. Macbain admitted that Stephen called him last week. But on the night he was killed, Stephen made a call to Macbain’s number. Macbain was the unknown number that Stephen called in between his calls to Gracie.”

  “That’s a good theory, but you’re beginning to sound a bit like Stephen, if you ask me. Paranoid.”

  “Okay. What about this then? What’s Macbain’s greatest weakness?”

  Paige hesitated. “His daughter.”

  “Exactly. If he is involved in this, not only would he have an exit plan, but I think he’d take her with him. Macbain’s phone is waterproof and managed to survive the fall in the lake, but it wasn’t found in the safe house. If he’s planning to connect with his daughter before all of this is over, it would make sense he made sure he kept his phone with him.”

  “I thought we already tried to trace it.”

  “Kelli did, but the phone is off, so she wasn’t able to pick up any signal.”

  “I don’t know, Nate. I know you want to find Gracie and put an end to all of this. We all do. But this just seems like a bunch of random clues you’re trying to make fit together.”

  “But if you put them together, it starts to make sense.” He leaned back in his chair. “Let’s look at motivation, then,” he said. “Macbain lost custody of his daughter about a year ago. He petitioned the courts, but the judge refused to modify the child custody orders.”

  “Why? Because he lived off the grid?”

  “I’m not sure how much that played into it, but according to the ex, he’d become paranoid. In one of her statements in the divorce case, she said he believed that the government was watching his every move, and he was always talking about moving to another country. We know Macbain had computer skills, maybe not as good as Stephen’s, but enough that he ends up working as a hacker for hire.”

  “He’s hired to take down the grid, but finds out it’s above his skill set, so he finds a way to hire Eddie Sumter, and then Stephen,” Paige said.

  “Macbain believed Stephen had given Gracie the patch, and having that patch was the only way he could guarantee that no one could stop him.”

  “But running you all off the road? Don’t tell me he planned that.”

  “I agree, that doesn’t fit. Maybe there’s someone else involved, or like I said, maybe he became a liability to the higher-ups. I don’t know. But if he believed Gracie had the patch and was holding out, he needed someone to break into the safe house.”

  Paige’s phone went off and she pulled it out of her pocket. “You might actually be on to something. An amber alert was just put out for a girl here in north Dallas. Want to guess what her name is?”

  “Danielle.” Nate stood up. “You believe me now? She’s the one person he would worry about. He would do anything to ensure her safety. He’s planning to flee the country with her before the grid goes down.”

  He strode across the noisy bull pen to Kelli’s desk. “Kelli . . . I want you to try to trace that phone again.”

  “I’ve been monitoring the phone, but unless it’s turned on—”

  “Just try again. Please.”

  “Okay . . . I’ve got something this time. I can’t guarantee he’s still there, but he must have turned it on for a few minutes.”

  “Can you give me a location?”

  “Give me a minute . . . I’ve got it,” Kelli said. “I’m forwarding you the address right now.”

  “Notify the FBI and get a team there immediately. Paige and I will be right behind them.”

  “Detective Quinn.”

  Nate turned around at the sound of his name and paused as the uniformed officer walked up to him.

  “I’ve got someone here who insists on speaking to you. She said it’s urgent.”

  A woman stepped out from behind the officer. Nate worked to place the familiar face.

  “I’m Anne Taylor. We met a couple days ago.”

  “Of course. Gracie’s secretary.”

  “Yes. Is she okay? I haven’t heard anything from her, and I’m worried sick.”

  “I’m not able to share with you the details of the investigation at this point, and I’m sorry, but I was just on my way out—”

  “I won’t keep you, but I have something for you. You’re going to think this is crazy, but I went to feed Grace’s fish tonight and try to clean up a bit—her office was left such a mess—and I found this.”
/>
  Anne handed him a flash drive.

  “Where did you get this?”

  “Believe it or not, it was in the fish food. I don’t know what it is, but after Grace found that key in the fishbowl . . . I just thought it might be significant. I can’t see Grace leaving something like that in there.”

  “This is significant.” Nate grabbed his coat off his chair. “I’ve got to go, but you might have just saved your country.”

  “What?”

  “Long story,” Nate said, slipping on his coat. “Kelli . . . I need you to get Agent Brown on the line and tell him what we’ve got and get tech working on it right away. If I’m right, we just found the patch.”

  “Where are you going?” Kelli asked.

  “To find Gracie. We might have a chance to stop all of this after all.”

  SWAT punched through the front door of the ranch-style house while Nate and Paige stood outside the front door and waited for the signal that the house was clear. His heart pounded in his chest. If Gracie was in here, he could only pray that Macbain hadn’t hurt her. If she wasn’t here, he had no idea where to look for her.

  I know you don’t owe me anything, God, but if you can protect her . . .

  Officers shouted from inside the house as they swept the rooms.

  “Clear.”

  “Clear.”

  “Clear.”

  She has to be here, God . . . please.

  Seconds ticked by. Adrenaline raced. He took in a slow, deep breath, then closed his eyes, but all he could see was Ashley’s body in front of him. No . . . he opened them again. He wasn’t going back there. Not today. He was going to find Gracie.

  “We’ve got something.”

  Nate moved into the house as soon as Agent Brown gave them the signal and had them follow him into the basement. The dimly lit room was filled with computer monitors, a long desk on one side, and a table with a bunch of papers and a couple of cots on the other end.

  But he was looking for only one thing.

  Two of the officers had Carl Macbain on the floor, while another officer was cutting off the zip tie around Gracie’s wrists. As soon as she was free and saw him standing in the doorway, she ran to him.

  “Gracie . . .” He pulled her against his chest, breathing in the smell of vanilla in her hair and feeling the warmth of her embrace. “Gracie, are you okay?”

  “Yes, but I think it’s too late. He’s just finished using Stephen’s source code to find the grid’s vulnerabilities and implement—”

  “We found the patch.”

  “What?”

  “Oscar had it.”

  “Oscar . . . I don’t understand.”

  “In Stephen’s message, he told you that Oscar had everything you needed to put an end to this.”

  “But the patch wasn’t in the fishbowl.”

  “He left it in the fish food. Anne found it. Those men that just came in here behind us have it and they’re going to stop what Macbain tried to do.”

  “So this is really over?” she said, taking a step back.

  “It won’t be the last time someone tries to take down the grid, but yeah,” he said, not ready to let go of her. “This is over, Gracie.”

  A wave of emotion rushed through her, and she blinked back the tears. “I wish Stephen had gone to the authorities with what he had instead of thinking he could handle things on his own. But his paranoia turned out to be legitimate.”

  “No guilt,” Nate said.

  She smiled up at him. “No guilt.”

  His phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “What have you got, Kelli?”

  “Did you make it in time?”

  “Are the lights still on?”

  “For the moment,” she said.

  “We’ve got a team here making sure they stay that way,” he said. “What about Danielle?”

  “That’s why I was calling you. A man was picked up about five minutes ago with Danielle in the back seat. She’s fine and is on her way back to her mother right now. The officer who arrested the driver also found a pile of passports and cash in the trunk.”

  Nate glanced across the room where Macbain was now being led out of the room in handcuffs. “He was planning on skipping the country.”

  “Not anymore.”

  He hung up the phone, then turned back to Gracie. “The FBI is going to need to talk with you again about what happened.”

  “As long as this is finally over.”

  “There will be some loose ends to tie up,” he said, “but yeah . . . I think this is finally over.”

  “We never had our breakfast,” she said. “Maybe we can still try for those chocolate chip bagels and coffee some morning.”

  “I’d like that.”

  And he did. Wanted to see her again. Wanted to see if something could happen between the two of them.

  “But?” she asked, seeming to read his mind.

  “I need some time to get my life back on track—both spiritually and emotionally—before I can even think about a relationship. It wouldn’t be fair to you. Wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”

  “No . . . You’re right. You need time to heal. I totally understand that.”

  “And you? You’ve been through a lot this week, Gracie. Don’t think it hasn’t affected you.”

  “I don’t. I’ve already decided to go talk to someone myself, to make sure I’m dealing with everything that’s happened. I’m also going to steal Becca away for a couple days. We’ll do a bit of antiquing, and I’ll have time to eat that ice cream and do the binge-watching I’d planned for this week.”

  “Ms. Callahan, if you’ll come with me.”

  Nate nodded at Agent Brown and stepped aside. Gracie smiled up at him before she left, making him wonder how he’d managed to lose his heart. But he couldn’t expect her to wait for him, not with the tangled mess still inside him. They had no strings attached. No commitments made. She’d move on, and in the end, she’d be better off without him.

  31

  Grace leaned across the table and handed the four-year-old wearing Hello Kitty pajamas and a Santa hat a small container of glitter. Christmas had always been her favorite time of the year. After Hannah’s death, it had become one of the hardest.

  “Do you want a star on the top of your tree, Ella?”

  Ella didn’t even have to think. “The silver one.”

  “Here you go.”

  Next to her, Lily held up the construction-paper ornament she’d been coloring the past ten minutes. “Do you like it?”

  Grace nodded. “I think it’s going to look perfect on our tree.”

  Like Hannah, every child at the children’s hospital had a story. Hospital stays had become the norm in a very abnormal life. But in the end, they were just children, trying to live in a world of uncertainty.

  Friends and family had asked how she could stand coming back to the place where she’d lost so much. She simply asked them how could she not? She knew what these mothers and fathers were going through. Because she’d been there. It was a place where they understood her and she understood them. Just because she’d lost Hannah to a horrible disease, it was still a part of her life she couldn’t pretend hadn’t happened.

  She glanced around the room that had been decorated with silver garlands, hanging snowflakes, and a ten-foot tree in the corner of the room. She couldn’t help but smile. With the help of parents and volunteers, tables had been set up around the room, allowing the kids to work on making ornaments for the tree. In a few minutes Santa would show up with stockings filled with goodies for each of the children. The entire morning had been a success and worth every minute she and the others had put into planning it.

  Ella’s mom, Wendy, stepped up to the table and pulled her aside.

  “Hey . . .” Gracie greeted her with a hug. “How are you doing?”

  “I just wanted to tell you the doctor said that Ella’s doing well and can go home. Probably tomorrow.”

  Grace felt her own tear
s surface as she pulled Ella’s mother into another hug. “I’m so happy for you. She’s looking good.”

  “I know. I also know there are no guarantees, but we’ve waited so long for this. If we can just get her home and start feeling like life is normal again.”

  Grace smiled, though she still wasn’t sure what normal was anymore. Was it normal to watch your child die? Normal for your husband to walk out on you because he couldn’t handle the loss? If it was, she hated normal.

  “Grace . . . someone’s here to see you.”

  Grace turned around, then felt her breath catch at the sight of Nate. He stood in the doorway, hands behind his back, wearing that lopsided grin of his and making her heart race. She shoved aside a loose strand of her hair, wishing he didn’t make her heart stir like she was a teenager with a crush. She hadn’t seen him since the day SWAT had rescued her in the basement and arrested Macbain, before successfully securing the grid. Four weeks, three days, and five hours, give or take. It’s not like she was counting.

  She’d watched for updates on the news about the case, but she hadn’t been able to find out anything. Apparently the authorities preferred to keep the near disaster under wraps.

  She drew in a deep breath as he crossed the room to where she stood. Black jeans, a white button-down shirt layered with a brown sweater, and a long coat. She let out an inaudible sigh.

  “Hey . . .” He stopped in front of her. “It’s been a while.”

  Too long. “It’s good to see you.” I didn’t think I’d miss you so much.

  “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting,” he said. “I didn’t know you were having a party.”

  “No . . . it’s fine.”

  “I couldn’t get ahold of you, so I called Becca. She told me you were here. Assured me I wouldn’t be in the way and told me I should come.”

  Grace laughed. “Sounds like Becca.”

  She wished it wasn’t so good to see him. Wished her heart would stop pounding at the way he was looking at her. “It’s our annual Christmas party. Right now, the kids are making cards.”