Tough Justice: Countdown Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  “And, James?” Xander called after them. “Make sure Hargrove hurries.”

  James’s look of concern deepened. He hurried out of sight with the girl in tow.

  Xander put the phone to his ear.

  “Nick?”

  “Yeah,” the man answered.

  “We found the bomb.”

  Chapter Ten

  James ran into the office like a bat out of hell.

  “Conference room,” he yelled as he ran into the bullpen.

  Nick looked up from the computer screen he and Jennifer had been focusing on ready to ask why but James was already moving down the hallway toward the tech office.

  Ty looked toward Nick, he realized, for his okay. He shrugged.

  “You heard the man.”

  It had been two hours since the bomb had been located. In that time the school had been evacuated without any media coverage or problems thanks to the chief of police and Principal Hargrove spinning the event into a surprise safety drill. One that was followed by a trip to a nearby park. Xander and James had stayed at PS 22 until the bomb squad had finally made their appearance. They were still working on the bomb and had promised to let Nick know the minute it was safe to let forensics go inside. Nick had called back his team in the meantime since their help was better suited for the office now that the bomb wasn’t as big of a threat.

  But Nick hadn’t expected this entrance from one half of that partnership. Still, he wasn’t about to miss out on finding out what had caused the excitement.

  Nick, Ty and Jennifer took their seats around the conference room table and waited a minute or two before James was back. His face was red, flushed. Nick wondered if he had run up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. However, judging by the excited expression on the junior agent’s face, there were more pressing questions to ask.

  “What’s this about?”

  James more or less collapsed in one of the chairs. Everyone turned as Xander made his appearance in the doorway. He also looked like he’d been running. Jennifer was quick to grab two water bottles and slide them to the duo.

  “We found it,” he said after taking a deep breath. “On the ride back I did some heavy research and found the original story of our own Harlen Mitchell Michaels and the link between every target.”

  Nick leaned forward, excited. “You told this to Eloise already?” he made sure.

  James nodded.

  “So spill it,” Jennifer prodded.

  After searching blindly for hours and hours, this was exactly what the team needed. His story.

  “We all already know that Harlen Mitchell—aka Mitchy according to Claudia, the hairdresser that we interviewed about him—Michaels is a whiz with the computer,” he started. “It turns out once upon a time he tried to use that to make tracking software before he ever turned to bomb-making.”

  “Tracking software?” Ty said, disbelief clear in his tone.

  “Yeah,” Xander jumped in. “Apparently when he was only sixteen he decided to create software that allowed the user to identify the location of a person based on their phone’s GPS without that person’s permission. Or their knowledge.”

  “Bomb-making might have not been on the table but the creep factor was still there,” Jennifer muttered. Nick couldn’t help but agree.

  “Since Harlen was so young he knew people wouldn’t take what he was doing—or had done—seriously,” Xander continued while James started to down some his bottle of water. “So to help garner as much publicity and support as possible, he released a sample of it on the internet. Lucky him the government bit at it and was in the process of trying to get him a multibillion dollar deal.”

  “Holy shit,” Ty said. “Surely, our Harlen isn’t a billionaire.”

  James shook his head. He wiped his mouth off on his hand. Nick was positive he’d run up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

  “No,” James said. “At least not by any legal means.”

  “Go to the whiteboard for this part,” Xander butted in. James nodded. Xander turned back to their confused expressions. “It’ll be easier to track this way. This part is a doozy.”

  James stood and walked to the whiteboard. He uncapped a marker and spoke without turning back to them.

  “A pedophile ended up accessing the sample and used it to track down his targets.”

  The group make a collective noise of disgust.

  “Speaking of creep...” Jennifer trailed off.

  “Yowch, them’s the breaks,” Ty added. “I’m assuming that was the end to any government offer? At least publicly?”

  “That was the software’s downfall,” Xander said with a nod. “And here are where our links come in.”

  James wrote out a name on the board. It read “Porterini.” Nick sat up straighter.

  “Penelope Porterini ran a story on the monumental screw-up—her words—and, from what I’ve read, she didn’t hold back,” James said. He drew a short line under her name and wrote another. Nick didn’t like seeing it up there either. “Trevor Dunbar was involved in the defense of the pedophile. He claimed that he wouldn’t have been able to hurt anyone if he hadn’t had access to Harlen’s software.”

  “Fast way to make an enemy of our bomb-maker, right there,” Xander said as James drew another short line. Nick noticed the agent hesitate before he wrote out the next name.

  It was his brother’s.

  This time it was Xander who explained the link.

  “Some people decided it never needed to get into the government’s hands and tried to stop it,” he said, voice softer than it had been. “William tried to block the software’s sale at his level.”

  No one commented as the junior agent wrote another name.

  This time it was Victoria’s.

  “And Victoria Russo was on the task force that finally helped stopped the software from being used by the government,” James finished. The team took another moment of silence. He capped the marker and returned to his seat. “After the software was completely sunk, Harlen created a new identity for him and his mother. He moved them to a new town and tried to keep them as hidden as possible.”

  “That tracks with what she told Ty and Jennifer,” Nick added. It was good to have confirmation of facts, even if they weren’t as important as they needed to break the case.

  “Harlen Michaels might have died, so to speak, but Mitchell Halpert couldn’t let his failure go,” James continued. He sounded more tired than he had moments ago. Then again, it wasn’t surprising. He’d been working outside of the office while they had all become slaves to their personal computers and the communal coffee machine. Not to mention Xander and he had the stress of tracking down a bomb to add onto their shoulders. “When he was eighteen he applied to BrainWave and brought up the tracking software—we all know about his arrogance issues—but didn’t get the reaction he was hoping for. Instead of his interviewers spending the interview regaling the sheer brilliance of the software, they tore it apart. He had to sit there and defend it. There he was feeling like a full-fledged adult who had created this masterpiece and then these powerhouse executives were unknowingly crushing everything he had created without reservation. Ultimately, that’s why he wasn’t hired. They didn’t like that he couldn’t see the potential damage the software could cause.”

  “Not to mention the damage it had already,” Nick said.

  Xander nodded. “From there Mitchell Halpert and Harlen Michaels seem to retreat into the shadows,” he said. “Where he just got angrier and angrier. Until, of course, when he decided to seek what he perceived was revenge against the corrupted officials that ruined his life.” Nick didn’t miss James’s glance back at the whiteboard. At William’s name.

  His brother might not have been perfect and made the right calls, but that didn’t
mean he deserved to be reduced to being one of the names on a list of victims on their conference room’s whiteboard. Nick didn’t like to admit it, especially when looking at Trevor Dunbar, but none of the people on that list deserved what they had gotten. At least not by an insane sociopath’s hand.

  “First the bomb, now the links,” Nick said. “How’d you figure all of this out?”

  James snorted. “I want to say pure skill but it was really just hours of work, man. Hours of mind-numbing work,” he said.

  “When Harlen went to plant the bomb he pretended to be a construction inspector,” Xander explained. “The principal wouldn’t have allowed him access otherwise and at night they have security cameras.”

  “The technological genius couldn’t disable them?” Jennifer asked, surprised.

  James smirked. “To be honest, like Victoria said it would, I think Harlen let his arrogance get the better of him.”

  “He wanted to do it during the day, when there were people there, to prove that he could,” Nick guessed.

  “Not only that but he fabricated a work order form to make it happen. And guess what name he used?”

  Nick had to laugh. “No way did he use his real name,” he said, already knowing the answer.

  “You bet your ass he did. And James ran with it on the way back here and found the trail,” Xander replied. “That arrogant prick just gave himself up because he was trying to prove he was smarter than everyone.”

  * * *

  Lara spent what felt like an eternity detailing out her investigation into her mother’s murder. From the gun to Lamar Jefferies and his suspicious death, she told the Whisperer everything she hadn’t told anyone else.

  And somehow that made the whole situation feel dirtier.

  Which didn’t improve Lara’s mood. Or the disintegrating, thin dam that was between her composure and her sanity.

  “Are you satisfied now?” she asked when there was nothing more to tell Halpert.

  Halpert, who had seemed to enjoy her walkthrough, shrugged.

  “I guess.”

  It was true, Lara was drained. Emotionally, physically, mentally. Having to tell your past—one you keep hidden on purpose—to a psycho under the threat of death and the death of others? Yeah, it wasn’t a picnic.

  However, watching Halpert turn more and more smug?

  It broke her. Again.

  “And what about me?” she asked. “Is it my turn to ask you some questions? Or are you too scared to let me ask anything?”

  The jab wasn’t as strong as she’d hoped it would be but it did the trick. He sneered.

  “Why would I be afraid of you, Agent Grant?” he asked. “It’s not like you can even do anything.”

  Lara ignored that. It was time for her to pay him back in the button-pushing department. But first she had to try something.

  “First of all, if you want to keep this conversation going, I need to check in with my team.” Halpert snorted. “By now they’ve probably realized my phone is at my desk, the GPS in my car isn’t on and that I’ve been MIA for quite some time. If you don’t want them eventually rushing in on this little tête-à-tête then you better let me at least send Nick a quick email.”

  Halpert tilted his head to the side, thinking.

  Finally he nodded. “Fine,” he said. “But I’ll see every word, every keystroke, so don’t try anything stupid.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Lara’s mind was working in overtime as she slowly moved her hands up to the keyboard and mouse. She brought up her email and paused before typing.

  How could she warn them? How could she let them know something was wrong without boy genius sniffing it out?

  How could she warn Nick?

  * * *

  “Wait, where’s Lara? Is she still not back?” James asked when they were done with the tale of Harlen Michaels. The excitement of finally knowing who their bomber was and the connections that had made up his past and recent actions had washed over all of them. Even Nick had momentarily forgotten her absence again.

  A fact he wasn’t proud about.

  “Has no one talked to her yet?” Jennifer added in.

  Nick shook his head. “Christina was searching but was having trouble finding her,” he admitted.

  “Whoa, you think something’s wrong?” James asked. His feeling of triumph appeared to be short-lived. He was worried.

  So was Nick.

  “With Lara it’s hard to tell,” he said.

  Ty elaborated. “There’s a chance she went lone wolf.”

  James’s eyebrow rose. “Do you really think she’d do that? During this case?”

  Nick wanted to point out that he knew Lara on a personal, and intimate, level. He’d also been front row and center during her past bouts of trying to carry the burden of a case or a decision on her shoulders. Now that they were all in danger of their secrets being exposed, with her secret apparently being the exception, he could believe that Lara was trying to save them from the consequences.

  Still, he was worried.

  “Let me worry about tracking her down, and you all—”

  Nick was interrupted by his phone going off. He didn’t bother finishing his thought, already wondering if the alert would herald in good news or bad news. When he saw it was from Lara, he hoped it wasn’t the latter.

  “It’s from Lara,” he said, pulling the email up on his phone. He started to read it out loud. They were a team after all. “‘Nick, I’m following up a lead. Make sure to tell Mercer that he was right. You’re the perfect decision to lead the team. Sorry I didn’t check in sooner.’”

  “Wait, did I miss something when I was in Long Island?” Xander said when Nick was done. “Did Mercer already give you the job as head of the CMU?”

  Nick pushed his chair back so quickly that it rolled to the back wall. The rest of the team mirrored his actions, clearly concerned.

  “No,” he hurried. “He said he wouldn’t do that until the case is over. And Lara knows that.” He started to move out of the room. The team followed.

  “Something’s wrong.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Christina and Eloise stopped their current searches and focused on Nick. It probably helped that he had gone full-authority mode. His voice lost any hint of uncertainty.

  It was just plain orders now.

  “Find out where this email came from,” he said, tossing Christina his phone. “We already know it didn’t come from her phone since it’s here.”

  Christina didn’t ask questions. Maybe because she realized something bad was happening. James, Ty, Jennifer and Xander stood huddled behind Nick, all scrunched into the tech office that had already felt warm before the addition of more bodies. They were silent as Christina and Eloise worked their magic.

  Seconds felt like minutes. Nick’s guilt twisted in his gut. He had ignored the possibility that something could have been wrong. He had let his anger—his frustration—at Lara’s tendencies get the better of his common sense. He should have acted like James had. Immediate concern.

  Yet, he hadn’t.

  He hoped his mistake hadn’t caused any damage that couldn’t be fixed.

  “Got it,” Christina said. She leaned closer to her computer screen.

  “Where is she?”

  “Well, according to this, she’s at—” Christina paused. Even without facing them he could almost see the confusion in her face. “She’s at her apartment.”

  Nick walked up until he was standing right behind the tech analyst. Sure enough Lara’s address was on the screen.

  “Can you try to access her home computer?” he asked. “The one she sent the email from.”

  Christina nodded and soon her fingers had gone warp speed across the key
board. She also wielded the mouse like he would a gun.

  “What do you think is going on?” Xander asked.

  Nick shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “But something’s not adding up.”

  No sooner than he voiced his concern did Christina slam down her mouse.

  “Fuck,” she yelled. Eloise rolled her chair over. Nick stepped back. “Fuck!”

  “Christina, what is it?”

  Her fingers continued to mash the keys in furious succession before she answered. “It’s Harlen Michaels,” she said, sure in her words. “He’s blocking me from accessing her computer.”

  The team behind Nick voiced several unfavorable thoughts but Nick had to focus.

  “Can you get around him?”

  Eloise moved her chair so that it was touching Christina’s and without speaking to one another, they began to work in tandem.

  “He thinks he’s smart,” Eloise said after a moment. “He’s not. We got in.”

  “Great,” Nick said, impressed once again with his team. “Now what can you tell us?”

  Christina took back over the computer, head bent close enough that Nick had to move to the side to get a better view. He felt the rest of the team do the same behind him.

  “Lara definitely sent the email from her home computer,” she reiterated. “And there’s some kind of feed currently streaming on it.”

  “Can you tell what kind of feed it is? And where it’s coming from?”

  “I can do you one better,” the tech analyst said, fingers once again participating in their technical dance. “I can pull it up so we can see. But only one side. As for tracking it...” She glanced at Eloise. The girl nodded and rolled her chair back to her workspace.

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Ty muttered.

  He wasn’t the only one.

  This time it took less than a minute for the analyst to yell, “Bingo!” Her screen went blank a second later. Then it was back again.

  “Lara.”

  Agent Lara Grant was staring at them from inside the box of the computer screen. Nick couldn’t help the relief that washed over him at the sight of her. All in one piece, and even sneering. Though, he couldn’t deny she looked on the rough side of exhausted.