by Mike Faricy
“Sort of like that long acronym Iggy mentioned?”
“That’s kind of what I was thinking, maybe the same place. I don’t know. But if you make some assumptions, some high tech scammer finds out Iggy is working on this project for you. Maybe he wants to steal it, your software.”
“No,” Bonnie said, shaking her head.
“What do you mean, no?”
“Think big, Dev. What if he doesn’t steal it, but instead he just puts some sort of bug in there that would let him collect personal information, credit cards, bank accounts, passwords. Then the thing goes out to every household in the nation. It could turn out to be a real mess. Hey, are you going to eat those last couple of ribs?”
“Help yourself. You seem to be rather laid back about the potential disaster you might have on your hands.”
“That’s because I have all the faith in the world in Iggy. Well, and you, too, keeping us safe. I mean, you got that dumb shit, Wayne, the other night.”
“Yeah, but this Wegger guy is at a little higher level. Makes Wayne look like he’s on the bench for a little league team and this guy is MVP for the majors.”
“Except Iggy is even better than that. I should have brought some paper towels out. You want some hand wipes?”
“God, after gnawing on about ten pounds of ribs I should probably hit the shower.”
“Great idea, there’s room for both of us. I’ll get the water going while you clean up the table. Don’t take too long.”
“Not to worry,” I said, then cleaned up in record time and hurried to the shower.
Chapter Nineteen
“We showered and then climbed into bed. It was everything I’d hoped for and more, if that was possible. Morton’s growl woke me from my post-coital sleep around three. He didn’t bark but just let off a steady growl as he stood by the door. He glanced over at me as I sat up, sort of gave me a look that suggested ‘Come on, get going’. I slipped on my boxers and grabbed my pistol off the night stand. Bonnie was breathing deeply, almost snoring, but not quite with the pillow half over her head.
We tiptoed cautiously down the hallway. Morton moved in a particular creep almost like he was stalking a bird. I heard a sound that seemed to be coming from the kitchen and I relaxed a bit, thinking it would be Iggy cooking a hotdog or something. Suddenly, a beam of light came on just long enough to flash on the staircase heading down to the front door level before it flicked off.
Morton’s growl became a lot more audible, and whoever held the flashlight clicked it back on and illuminated Morton. This time he barked, took two steps forward and barked again. I stepped to the side, still somewhat behind him although I could see his teeth were bared.
“Shit” a voice said from behind the light and started to back up. “Easy, nice doggie, easy.”
I flicked on the light switch, illuminating the living room, the kitchen and the deck outside. A wide-eyed skinny guy stood staring back at me. It wasn’t Niles Wegger, although there was a definite resemblance. This guy was just as skinny and at least as unattractive, if not more so. “Shit. I’m, I’m sorry, I must have the wrong house.”
Morton barked, then growled, but remained where he was. I raised my pistol and said, “I think it would be a good idea if you got down on your knees and put your hands behind your head.”
“Look, I’m awfully sorry, I seem to have made a terrible mistake. Now, if I could just…”
“Your first mistake was breaking in here. The second one was not doing what I told you to do.” Morton barked again.
“Does he bite?” The guy sounded more frightened of Morton, than of me holding a pistol.
“He only bites if I tell him to, in which case he’ll rip a very large piece out of you. And once he tastes blood. Well…” Morton barked and then, as if on command, he took a step forward.
“Just keep him there, mister.”
“Then get down on your knees, now, or he’s going to tear your hand off. I promise,” I said, and the guy quickly dropped to his knees. He set the flashlight on the floor, a small black thing maybe as big around as a quarter and about four inches long. He quickly placed his hands behind his head and watched Morton out of the corner of his eye.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I told you, I’m a neighbor. From the next street over,” he added quickly. “I seemed to have made a mistake and I…”
“You’ve got about two seconds to start telling the truth before I shoot you and call the cops.”
“I just told you, I…”
I placed both hands around the pistol grips, then assumed a dramatic pose and aimed at his head. I could see him swallow nervously. He sort of cringed and leaned backwards in an effort to get further away from the pistol, but he didn’t say anything. I lowered the pistol and aimed at his crotch.
“Okay, okay. God, please don’t shoot. Jesus, please. God, I knew this was a stupid idea right from the get go. I was supposed to be in and out of here in sixty seconds. Now look, I’m screwed.”
“What were you going to do that would only take sixty seconds?”
“Iggy. We have no way of contacting him. He’s changed all his email addresses, basically disappeared from online view, we can’t locate his system. We just wanted to get in touch with him.”
“So you thought breaking in was the way to go? Why not just ring the doorbell during daylight hours?”
He seemed to think about that for a moment, at least long enough to know he hadn’t convinced me. There was a six-foot extension cord on the floor behind him running along the wall from a socket to a table lamp. “So let me ask you again, why didn’t you just ring the doorbell?” I said, then stepped past him, pulled the extension cord out of the socket and unplugged the lamp.
I wrapped the cord around his wrist then pulled his arms behind his back, tied his wrists one to the other, then tied the cord around one of his ankles. All the while I kept telling Morton not to bite. Morton looked at me like he couldn’t figure out what I was saying. Once the guy was bound Morton walked over and licked his face.
“I think he’s just seeing if he’d like the taste. He can move fast, and I should warn you, he hasn’t been fed for almost twelve hours.”
“Oh, God, come on, man, I didn’t do anything. Please,” he whined.
“Well, unfortunately I sort of have the feeling you’re not being very truthful. You broke in here to get an email address? How stupid do I look?”
He seemed to think about that for a moment, so I said, “The name Niles Wegger mean anything?” A look of resignation slowly washed over his face.
“You already know about him?”
“Of course,” I said. “We’ve been working nonstop on a special program just for him. I’m a little surprised you don’t know about it, but then, Niles never did turn out to be as bright as everyone said he was. Always a bit of a disappointment.”
“And a jerk, you can add that in there, too.”
“Oh, yeah, a real jerk,” I said.
“He didn’t even know anything about you or your guard dog.”
“Believe me, that’s not going to be his biggest…”
The guy suddenly whipped the extension cord at me, then was up, on his feet and running out the sliding door. I pointed my pistol at him but I didn’t pull the trigger. He leapt over the deck railing, and I waited for the screams and cries when he landed but didn’t hear anything. A moment later I saw him running across the backyard and then between two houses and onto the next street. I thought I detected a bit of a limp, but he was still moving pretty fast, probably expecting Morton to bite him at any moment. Morton was otherwise occupied, standing at the kitchen counter and looking up at his food dish. I was barefoot, in my boxers and not about to give chase.
I picked up the little flashlight and set it on the kitchen counter, then poured some dog food into Morton’s dish. I grabbed the plate with a couple of smoked ribs out of the refrigerator and sat down at the counter. Morton glanced at his dish, then gave a woe
ful glance at my plate of ribs. “Don’t even think about it, Morton.”
Chapter Twenty
“That’s it? You just sat here eating the rest of those smoked ribs in your underwear and let him get away.”
“What? You want me to shoot the guy?”
“Well, yeah, for starters.”
Bonnie was leaning against the kitchen counter, wearing just a t-shirt. A very short t-shirt, oblivious. She was sipping a cup of coffee and in the process of reading me the riot act. “I mean, the guy broke in here, Dev. By the way, how did he even get in? Wayne couldn’t get in.”
“Wayne’s an idiot.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” she said, then slurped more coffee. “But, I mean, did he actually pick the lock? And even if he did…”
Oh-oh. She had stopped in mid-sentence and seemed to suddenly be deep in thought.
“I always put that board behind the door before I go to bed so the door won’t slide and…” She looked at me for a very long moment. “Wait a minute. You said you’d wash up in here last night.”
“And I did, I even put things away.”
“Did you bother to lock the door? God, did you even think to close it?”
“I might have had some other things on my mind.”
“I don’t believe it. You can’t be that…”
“Hey, don’t blame me. If you weren’t so good, so fantastic, I…”
“Just stop right there. God, Dev, we could all be dead. You’re supposed to be the, the security specialist.” She flared her eyes and slurped more coffee.
“That’s your term, not mine. Besides, it worked out okay. I mean, no one got hurt.”
“Luckily. No thanks to you.”
“I’m the one who scared him off. You managed to sleep through it all with a smile on your face after your workout in the shower and again in bed.”
“I don’t recall you complaining.”
“Maybe we should head back to…”
“Dev,” she screamed just as I began to reach forward.
“Okay, okay. Sorry, I was just trying to get you calmed down and…”
“Yeah, that’s what you were thinking about, me. Give me a break.”
“It couldn’t hurt.”
“Will you, just for once, try and think about something else? It doesn’t always have to be about sex. God,” she said, then drained her coffee cup and held the empty out for a refill.
“I’m a guy. It’s the way we’re wired.”
“Dev, stop it,” she shouted. If she mentioned going to bed and just talking about how our day went I was out the door.
“Security, Dev, protection. It’s why you’re here.”
I switched gears. “Okay, I’d say we’ve established the fact that this Niles guy and whoever else is with him wants whatever it is he thinks you have.”
“What?”
“I’m guessing he has some rough ideas, but he probably isn’t a hundred percent sure what you and Iggy have been working on. You’ve contacted potential clients, right?”
“A couple of the big names, setting up appointments, but I’ve been purposefully sort of vague, nonspecific, until I can meet with them in person.”
“Maybe Wegger has contacts at some level. Maybe Iggy unwittingly gave them information. The one thing, actually a couple things last night’s episode confirms is that they aren’t about to give up. They have some vague idea of what you’re doing, and they seem to be more interested in Iggy, or at least his program and not you.”
She nodded as she poured more coffee, then sipped from the fresh mug. “Plus, they didn’t know about you being here.”
“Yeah, and they may just think I was here for a sleepover instead of security.”
“That’s why you left the door open? To fool them?”
“You believe that?” I said sounding hopeful.
“No, and from now on, I’ll be in charge of locking up.”
“Fair enough. I think it might be time for me to pay Niles Wegger a visit.”
“Do you think that’s such a good idea? What are you going to say? What do you hope to find out?”
“I won’t know until after the visit.”
“Hmmm, let me think about that.”
“Bonnie, what’s to think about? The guy who ran out of here last night, I’m about ninety-nine percent sure he ran straight to Wegger and told him exactly what happened. Next time they try to come in here, and there will be a next time, they’re going to do it forcefully, take whatever they want, whether it’s programs, computers, Iggy or all of the above. Doesn’t it make more sense to cut them off at the pass? At least maybe give them a second thought that it’s not the best idea?”
Chapter Twenty-One
When I drove over to the cul-de-sac the green Jaguar was parked in the driveway looking like it hadn’t moved since the last time I saw it. I pulled in behind, turned off the Lancer, then sat there behind the wheel while the stupid Lancer coughed and sputtered, deciding whether or not it was going to shut down. Once it stopped I climbed out. I thought I might have caught a slight movement from a window shade but couldn’t be sure, not that it made any difference. I walked to the front door, a solid-looking, black-metal thing, and rang the doorbell, then stepped back and smiled up at the security camera mounted above the door. After a long moment I gave a little finger wave at the camera.
“What’s this about?” a voice said from somewhere.
“I’d like to talk to Niles Wegger,” I said, looking up at the camera.
“Regarding?”
I pulled the small flashlight from my pocket, turned it on and pointed it at the camera. “If Mr. Wegger is too busy my next stop is the police.”
There was a pause and then a loud buzz, followed by a lock clicking on the front door. I turned the handle and the front door opened, so I stepped in. The metal door led into a small entry with another door. This door had a large panel of leaded glass in a sort of floral pattern with beveled glass on the outside edges of the panel. There was a large staircase on the far wall with someone coming down the stairs who looked an awful lot like Niles Wegger. He gave a friendly wave like we were long lost pals then walked across the oak floor of the foyer and opened the door. “You must be Devlin Haskell,” he smiled and extended his hand, all charm and affability.
I shook his hand, didn’t ask how he knew my name and said, “Yes, and you’re Niles Wegger, it’s nice to finally meet you.” I tried to look him in the eye, but with that wandering left eye I wasn’t sure exactly where to focus.
“What can I do for you?”
I reached back into my pocket and pulled out the small flashlight. “I believe someone you know may have left this earlier this morning while in the process of making a surprise visit.”
His Adam’s apple, about the size of a golf ball, bobbed up and down three or four times. “That’s nice, but I don’t think it would have been anyone I know.”
“That’s not what he told me at three this morning while I had a pistol drawn on him.”
“Under those circumstances, I’m sure people would say just about anything. But where are my manners? Please, won’t you join me in the library?” he said and extended a hand down a hallway. “That door on your left.”
I headed down the hallway past a series of professionally-taken photos of the house that were framed and hanging along the wall. My eyes were busy flashing left and right, expecting someone to suddenly jump out. Fortunately, nothing happened and Wegger suddenly said, “This room here.”
The room was a modest size, not particularly large, but certainly not small. A red and blue oriental rug that appeared antique and expensive covered most of the oak floor. Two windows on the far wall looked out onto the front lawn and the driveway. My Lancer, parked behind the gleaming green Jag, looked even worse from this distance. Two of the walls held shoulder-high, built-in oak bookcases. On the end wall was a fireplace with a built-in bookcase on either side and an antique mirror over the mantel. The shelves of the
bookcases were filled with leather-bound books, a number of them looking very old.
A wide, mahogany desk with an inlaid leather surface sat in front of the fireplace, and as Wegger stepped behind the desk he said, “Please, have a seat,” indicating one of two antique leather chairs in front of the desk. Two large computer screens were mounted on either side of the desk, Wegger sat between them. For a brief moment I thought of Iggy, the only difference being this room was bright.
I pulled a chair back and sat down. Wegger settled into his black office chair and studied me for a long moment before he finally spoke. “So, what’s it gonna take?”
“I’m not sure I’m following.”
“You. No doubt it’s why you’re here. Right? What’s it gonna take to get you on my side?”
“Your side? I guess I’m in the dark here. You had two guys attempt to break into Bonnie’s, both turned out to be unsuccessful. You apparently…”
“Two?”
“Yeah, your guy last night, the one limping around today, and that idiot Wayne a night or two before. Wore an attractive nose splint, had two black eyes and a lump on his forehead the night you pushed him into a bunch of bar stools at Benny’s.”
“Well done. I may have underestimated you. Tell me what you know about Iggy Arnold.”
His wandering eye was getting to me so I focused on the book shelf behind him. “Iggy, I know the two of you worked together in, how should I put it? Government security?”
He nodded. “Yes. I worked with Iggy long enough to know he has a variety of concerns. He’s a little paranoid, thinks the highway department is trying to scan his brain along with a few dozen other issues, but at the end of the day, he’s still a genius. Now, what’s it gonna take to get you on board? Come on, level with me. If you weren’t interested you wouldn’t be sitting in that chair right now. Correct?”
