“What’s the matter?” Chuck asked.
“Are you sure the information we need is in there?” I asked.
“What, are you getting cold feet?”
Yes, I was, in fact. But I shot Chuck a look of annoyance. “Just give me the stick,” I said.
Chuck handed the flash drive to me, along with a cell phone. I didn’t own one, but Chuck had an older prepaid phone which he had reactivated a few hours ago.
I took a deep breath. “I’ll call you when I’m in his office,” I said, and stepped out of the car.
The main entrance to the admin building had two full pane glass doors. To one side was a black electronic lock with a slot to swipe a magnetic key card.
Using my mother’s card, I ran it through the lock, and the small red light on top of the device turned green. I opened the door and walked inside as if I had every right to be there.
As I had hoped, no one was in the main reception area. I didn’t expect to encounter anyone while I made my way down the hall to the stairs. The night cleaning staff were usually gone by midnight or shortly thereafter.
The admin building was two stories. David Matheson’s office was on the northwest corner, facing the hangars.
I reached the top of the stairs and a second set of doors, which also required me to swipe the key card. I hesitated before doing so, feeling an abrupt pang of guilt.
In all the time I had worked for Worldwind, David Matheson had never shown me anything other than kindness. Perhaps it was just an extension of his working relationship with my mother, and he was simply being polite and professional.
Here I was breaking into his office to steal information that would give an unfair advantage to another company, who was obviously unscrupulous. My actions could—and probably would—do harm to David. My anger was because of his father, and his summary decision to fire me. My revenge, however, would affect everyone else in the company. My mother was already having troubles with the other workers because of me, but did their actions justify what I was going to do?
It was my emotional reaction to yesterday, coupled with a noted lack of sleep, that had brought me to this point, but now that I was here, I was losing my resolve.
I hadn’t even thought about how my mother would react when she found out what I did. How would I explain it to her? How would I explain it to Stacy?
I still faced a desperate situation. I wasn’t about to turn myself in to my parole officer; that much was certain. But if I didn’t go through with this plan to steal the information, my only other choice was to run, but that would leave the people I cared about in my wake to clean up the mess.
No matter what I did, people were going to get hurt.
When it came down to it, I knew I couldn’t go through with the theft. I wasn’t a criminal. I was just an unlucky loser.
I didn’t turn around and leave, however. I stood rooted to the spot. I still had a problem. I wouldn’t go back to jail, and I couldn’t run and abandon my mother or my new relationship with Stacy. I had too much to lose.
There was one possibility. If I could speak with David Matheson, tell him the accident wasn’t my fault, maybe he would extend me the benefit of the doubt; if not for me, then for my mother. Yesterday morning I saw that, though he and his father might not see eye to eye, he didn’t have any reservations standing up to him.
It was a long shot, but I needed to take it.
I remembered Chuck. He wouldn’t sit outside in the car for long without getting anxious, and Jorge would get suspicious if we didn’t return to the gate before everyone else started to arrive for work. If I left now, though, I knew I would never be able to get back into the building.
I pulled out the cell phone and hit the speed dial for Chuck’s number.
It rang once, and Chuck came on. “You inside?”
“No,” I said. “Not yet. I’m on the second floor, down the hall from his office.”
“What’s the hold up?”
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“What’s that?”
I tried to keep my voice as even as possible. “I want you to head back to the gate. Tell Jorge I can’t get into my locker, and I’m going to wait for Carl, my supervisor, to show up. Then you leave.”
“I knew it!” Chuck said, his voice cracking. “You’re chickening out.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I just can’t—” The phone went dead when Chuck hung up.
I sighed and slipped the phone back in my pocket. Chuck wouldn’t say anything to Stacy; she didn’t know about what he did for a living, and I got the sense that he didn’t want her to know.
Somehow, I would make things right with him later … if I managed to keep myself out of jail.
David Matheson usually didn’t show up for work until eight o’clock or so. I had an hour and a half to kill, and I couldn’t just stand in the middle of the stairs. My best bet was to wait in his office.
I swiped the card and stepped onto the second floor, then walked to the end of the hall, all the while feeling the depressing weight of my situation pressing down on me. I didn’t want to get back to that place in my life where I felt sorry for myself. I had to take ownership of my decisions and my life, and make better choices.
At the vice-president’s office door, I pulled my mother’s key card out again and swiped it in the lock. A click sounded as the door unlocked, and I turned the knob.
The moment I stepped inside, I knew something was terribly wrong:
David Matheson sat behind his desk, staring directly at me.
Chapter Nine
My first impression was that he was expecting me. Then his eyes widened in surprise when he recognized who I was. He was expecting someone, but not me.
“Richard?” It was more a demand than a question.
It was then that I realized that I was holding my breath. I had to force myself to inhale and exhale.
“Uh,” I said, my mind racing to make up an excuse why I had broken into his office.
“What’s he doing here?” asked another voice. I jerked my head to the right and saw Terence Matheson and Al.
David’s father was sitting in an overstuffed leather chair, his driver standing behind him dutifully. Both men had dark frowns.
“Is this why you had me come in so early this morning?” Terence asked his son. “I told you, I fired him for good reason, and I stand by that. I won’t have my decisions second-guessed. I seriously think you have your priorities mixed up, David.”
He stood and adjusted his suit jacket; a clear sign that he had made his point and the meeting was concluded.
“I was waiting for someone,” David said, his eyes scouring me for an answer to an unspoken question. “But not you. What are you doing here, Richard?”
“Uh,” I said again, cursing myself for being so thick. I wanted to say that I had come to beg for my job, but I couldn’t get the words out.
Cocking his head, David pointed to my hand. “Is that your mother’s key card?”
“Yes,” I said, and I could feel the heat rush to my face.
“Were you here looking for something, Richard? Some information?”
In all the times I had spoken with David, he had been personable, charming, and approachable. My mother never had a harsh word to say about him.
Now, however, there was a sharp, calculating expression on his face: the look of a hunter who spotted his prey. I suddenly felt a cold chill go up my spine as I understood the meaning behind his words.
He knew about the espionage attempt. That’s why he was here: to foil the plan. But … it didn’t make sense to me. Why wouldn’t he have the police on hand to make an arrest?
“What the hell is going on?” Terence demanded, clearly growing angrier at his ignorance about the situation. Al watched on, the calmness of his demeanor a sharp contrast to his employer’s.
David, keeping his focus on me, answered his father. “What’s going on is that I set out some bait, but caught something unexpec
ted.”
“Enough riddles,” Terence said, glaring at his son.
“A week ago,” David said, not taking his eyes off me, “one of my network security protocols picked up someone sniffing around our computers. My techs couldn’t trace him—he covered his tracks pretty well—but they could trace a few of his online posts. It looked like an info-trader.”
Terence interrupted. “What is that?”
“Insider trading, using computer hacking,” David said. “So I dangled a big fat carrot: news of a corporate merger stored on a clean computer. And then I posted a reward for confirmation on the merger.”
“We’re not merging with anyone,” Terence said, looking confused.
“Our hacker didn’t know that.” David narrowed his eyes at me. “A few hours ago, I received a notice that someone took the job, and would have the information by midmorning.”
Terence gestured toward me. “Him? This is your hacker? This incompetent little punk?”
“No,” David said. “He’s just the second-story man. Obviously, there’s someone else involved. We’ll just have to get his name from Richard.”
While the plot unfolded, I realized just how deep a hole I had dug for myself. There was no getting out now. I was caught red-handed, and no matter that I had changed my mind about going through with the plan, David had me dead to rights. Even if I tried to explain myself, he would still feel betrayed. After all, he had given me a break and taken a chance on hiring a felon. I wouldn’t blame him if he called the cops and pressed charges.
At that moment, I felt I only had two choices. Give up and wait quietly for the authorities to show up and arrest me, or run.
As if he knew what I was going to do before I did it, Al extended his arm toward me. In his gloved hand, he held a handgun.
“Seriously,” he said, “don’t.”
I put my hands up, palms out. I hoped no one noticed my knees shaking. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
Looking back and forth between Al, his son and me, Terence said, “Well, this is all very interesting, but I fail to see why you wanted me here, David. You should have just called the police.”
“No,” David answered. “We can’t have the police involved … just yet.”
“I’ve about had enough of your games, David,” Terence said. “I should never have let you into the family business. I knew you didn’t have any sense as a child, and you have even less as an adult. Instead of focusing on business, you’re spending your time setting up little scenarios like this to play out. It’s clear to me that you are completely ill-equipped to run my company.”
When he finished his tirade, Terence waited for David to respond. The seconds ticked by, and for a fleeting moment, I had hoped they had forgotten about me, and I could slip out unnoticed. Al, however, kept his gun trained on me.
Finally, David replied; his tone calm and assured. “There’s just one more little scenario to play out…”
There was something peculiar about the way he spoke those words. My stomach tightened. Deep down, my instinct for self-preservation told me to run and take my chances. Maybe Al wouldn’t fire, or his aim would be off. Unfortunately, it felt like my feet were encased in concrete; I couldn’t move.
“I’m tired of asking the same question,” Terence said, exasperated. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your power.” David stood up from his chair. “You’ve been keeping it from me. You’ve selfishly kept it for yourself. You’re either too stingy or too afraid to use it the way it was meant to be used.”
I had no idea what David was referring to, but the ashen pallor that fell over his father’s face told me that he did. “How did you—?”
“Trust me. I know your secret, Father. Did you think no one ever followed you on your monthly ‘retreats’? It was only a matter of doing my homework to fill in the blanks.” He gestured to his computer.
“David,” Terence said. His voice was hollow and desperate. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s too much for you to handle. It’s too much for anyone.”
“Oh, I understand it, and I know why you’ve been trying to push me out of the company.”
“I was only trying to protect you.”
David sneered. “Don’t give me that. You knew what would happen if I found out. And now that I have, it’s time for me to collect my inheritance.”
With a careful motion, David opened the top drawer of his desk and reached inside. When he pulled his hand out, he had a gun in it—a match for Al’s—and he pointed it at his father.
While I was still struggling to put the pieces together, the senior Mr. Matheson must have already figured out the plan.
“Don’t do this, David.” He turned to his driver. “Al, stop him.”
Al stepped away from his boss, though his gun remained pointed at me, unwavering. “Sorry, Mr. Matheson. I’m afraid I no longer work for you.”
I had no idea what the underlying conflict between father and son was about, but the one thing I knew deep in my bones was why I was here.
I was the patsy.
David hadn’t laid the trap to catch whoever was hacking the company’s network; he had dangled a big enough prize to get someone into a position where the evidence was overwhelmingly incriminating.
They were going to kill Terence Matheson and pin the murder on the burglar.
That setup would only work if they didn’t have any witnesses, namely me. I could hardly plead my innocence if I was dead. In the back of my mind, I realized that they would also have to silence Chuck.
There was a look of intense concentration on Terence Matheson’s face, as if he were trying to solve a complex equation. He reached his hand to his collar and slowly loosened his tie. Through gritted teeth, he said, “You have to stop this. I won’t hold it in much longer. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“There is no stopping it, Father.”
In an act of desperation, Terence screamed something unintelligible and dashed toward the door behind me. At the same time, he pulled a dark, beaded necklace out from under his shirt—a rosary?
David yelled something and made a jerking motion with his gun hand.
The shot was startlingly loud.
Terence Matheson stiffened as the bullet struck home. There was a look of horror and surprise on his face as he fell toward me.
It all happened like in a slow-motion movie, with the ringing in my ears the only soundtrack.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the crazed look of anticipation on David’s face.
I automatically reached out to catch the senior Mr. Matheson before he hit the ground, but his weight was too much for me. The momentum pulled me down after him and, unbalanced, I fell across him.
He reached out one hand to try to pull me off him; with his other hand, he was trying to rip the rosary off him. “Run,” he said in a breathless rush. “Get out of here.”
Then there was a last flash of life in his eyes. He snapped the necklace from his neck, and it fell to the floor…
…and a fraction of a moment later, I felt as if I were being shredded into a thousand pieces from the inside out.
Chapter Ten
It felt like a balloon of supercharged energy inside me, expanding outward rapidly. Any moment I was going to reach my breaking point and burst.
So much had happened in a short time that I wasn’t sure of the exact order, but I knew I was standing at the edge of death, whether by whatever it was in me trying to get out, or from David and Al, who both had their guns trained on me.
I strained against the pressure in me. If I didn’t get myself back under control, I would not be able to find a way out of this situation.
Struggling to one knee, I found myself speaking. My hearing was slowly returning, and I heard my voice as gritty and strained. “What’s happening to me?”
“No!” David shouted. The disbelief was evident in his eyes. “It can’t be. It’s impossible.”
Al
looked as confused as I was, but he didn’t let that stop him from bursting into action. He closed the distance between us with a few strides, and grabbed my arm.
“Don’t touch him,” David barked, his voice rising.
But it was too late.
Something in me snapped, and it felt as if every microscopic part of me exploded outward.
The lights in the room flickered on and off twice, then went out with an electric sound. A spark erupted from the back of David’s laptop, and he jumped back.
I don’t know if I was the only one who heard it, but a deafening roar filled my ears, and the pressure in my head became unbearable.
Like an elastic band pulled to its limit, the force in me snapped. I screamed from the sudden release. It felt as if something were ripping my soul out of me.
I heard a cry of surprise and pain from Al. When I opened my eyes, he was somehow on the other side of the room. A lamp on a half-table shattered when he landed on it. A moment later, he fell to the floor, his arms and legs pointing in all different directions. Faintly, his chest rose and fell; he was still breathing.
I knew I hadn’t thrown him across the room. But something had.
Acutely aware that David still held a gun on me and had a clear shot, I wondered why he stayed his hand. Turning toward him, I paused, not sure what he would do. He had a complex expression, a mixture of shock and anger; maybe a hint of fear.
I knew if I spent anymore time thinking about it, I would lose my nerve.
I backed away from the dead body of Terence Matheson, and edged my way to the door.
“Don’t!” David barked, leveling his gun at me. But he didn’t fire. I wasn’t sure why, but I wasn’t going to wait for him to change his mind.
I bolted.
Behind me, I heard David yell for me to stop, but I didn’t slow, and he didn’t pursue me.
* * *
I ran down the hall to the stairs. At the last moment, I remembered to use my key card to open the glass door instead of running into it. My hand was shaking, and it took two attempts for me to swipe the card correctly. Every nerve in my body was crackling, as if some kind of electric current were running through me. Was this adrenaline?
The Complete Book Of Fallen Angels Page 27
