by Dale Mayer
Had in fact done just that.
She’d bought into the company and had hit the ground running. But she didn’t have anything in the vehicle. It was time to think about carrying a handgun on her at all times. When she left the military, she’d stopped thinking in terms of weapons. And she’d been happy to walk away from that whole world. She’d lived it, breathed it and had been grateful to find something else to experience.
Although she’d been happy to walk toward something completely new, it had been an adjustment but she’d taken to it and never looked back. But it seemed like all she’d done was go from a global type of warfare down to a one-on-one combat. And there was no settling the sick feeling inside. She might have mad skills, but that wouldn’t stop the asshole if his behavior escalated, and he did seem bent on coming after her.
She forwarded the three emails to the cops handling her case. Within minutes she got a phone call.
“This is Detective Mannford, calling about the three recent emails. You have any idea who sent them?”
“You always ask the same question, and I always have the same answer. No, I have no idea. And, if I did have an idea, you wouldn’t have to ask me for his name. I’d have sent it along with the emails.”
“They were sent to you about two hours ago. Actually, they were sent an hour apart from one another. You didn’t see them earlier?”
“I avoid checking my emails when I’m in a business meeting. I was at Legendary Security for most of the day. I did get a text again while there. Then I went back to the office and then home, where I just found the emails.” She frowned as she realized she hadn’t checked her email at work either. She shrugged. “I guess I was a little on the scattered side. Normally I’d check my emails at work, but I didn’t today.”
“I doubt it makes any difference in terms of whether he would’ve only sent one or all three. I suspect it’s just more to torment you. Were all the other texts exactly the same as the first one?”
“Yes, exactly the same. Except the last one.” She quickly relayed that message and sent it. “I can forward those to you as well.”
“Do that. We’ll put them in your file.”
“You had no luck tracing any of them yet, right?” She knew he hadn’t. Tommy had tried. According to him, there was no way to track the sender at this point. He tried to explain how cell phones could be bought and dropped for minimal cost. Unidentified phones you could make a call on. There was just no simple solution. Tommy had said, “If somebody wants to be an asshole, they can be a really big asshole in this tech world.”
Like she needed to hear that.
*
Tyson sat down at his laptop, opened up his email and worked on his opinion on the VR system. Like everyone else, he took his turn in the VR room. Each had found something that needed a little tweak. Tyson didn’t know if his was important or not but figured the programmers would want to know. There was a black spot when I turned to the left after I did a certain footing. I repeated it several times. Each time a block showed up. So I figured it was in the program code. As he tried to explain it in an email he realized how foolish this was. He grabbed his phone, looked up Kai’s number and dialed it. When she answered, her voice hesitant and quiet, he asked, “Did I wake you?”
“No, not at all.” He listened as she cleared her throat and came back, apologizing. “Sorry. My throat is scratchy. Just going to have a sip of coffee here.”
In his mind he could see her pick up her cup and swallow, her throat moving strong and vibrant as the rest of her. He was such a fool. He could still hear her say, I was always one hundred percent. It’s just Tracy was like a hundred and fifty percent. I always came off looking a little bit less when compared to my best friend. When he had seen Kai today, she’d reminded him so much of Tracy. That same exuberant over-the-top love of life. And he wondered how he’d ever seen Kai as anything less. Sure, she’d been prickly at the beginning but then had warmed up. With Tracy around, he had seen the two women’s similarities, but Tracy had always shone a little brighter for Tyson. But that was then. As he studied Kai now, he realized Kai was calmer. But still so damn alive. She was always on fire, always on top of the conversation. She spoke with an animated full-body approach. Whereas he was quiet, always sat off to the side, rarely spoke to her. But not Kai. She was the center of attention, and yet not because she needed the attention but more because everyone gravitated to such energy. He certainly had.
“Okay, that’s better. Sorry about that,” she said lightly. “What’s up?”
“I found a glitch in the programming,” he said quietly. “I tested it several times, and it showed up every time.”
“Good, that’s what we want to hear. Obviously we would prefer no glitches, but something like this will help us fix it. Where and what did you find?”
He explained the details.
“It didn’t show up with any other foot patterns?”
“No, not that I could see. If I get a chance, I’ll try again tomorrow.”
“If you get a chance? Are you on a mission?”
“I’m leaving the day after,” he said. “But the VR room is a little busy at the moment.” He smiled in spite of himself as her laughter rang free, filling his ear and even the room. She had such joy for life.
“Now that is good to hear.”
“Are you coming back?” he asked. Then instantly frowned. Why the hell did he ask that?
“Back to Levi’s place? I’m not sure. I’m meeting Ice for lunch tomorrow.”
“I’ll be going into town with her. We have a lot of running around to do.”
“You’re coming for lunch?” she asked.
He analyzed her question for any hint of disappointment or upset, but, for the life of him, he couldn’t tell. It was just curiosity. He wasn’t sure if he should feel happy or sad. “Not sure what’s planned. A shipment’s coming in. She might meet you alone while we’re all off doing other things.”
“Well, if you join us, good. You’re always welcome.”
“Thanks. We’ll see how the day goes.” An awkward silence filled the space between them.
Finally she said, “I need to grab some food so I’ll talk to you later.”
“Will do.” He hung up and stared at his cell. “What an idiot you are.”
He leaned back and thought about it. Of all the people he might want to start going out with, Tracy’s best friend was not likely to be the healthiest choice. But, as he started to realize, he may not have a choice. Because, so far, she was the only one he’d found an interest in. He knew the others would be worried. Afraid he wasn’t really interested in Kai herself but was interested because he wasn’t ready to let go of Tracy.
But he had done a ton of work on himself since he’d lost his wife. He’d seen a therapist for months—something he had never told anybody because it confirmed how he wasn’t wrapping his head around what had happened. He’d been so angry, so very upset, and of course the guilt had been crippling. It had been the first thing his therapist had worked on. As the big one moved and shifted off to the side and became so much less, they worked on the next few things. He would never feel good about the loss, but now he could think about Tracy and remember her joy, not feel that haze of anger and frustration that come over him at her death.
“Tyson?” There was a hard knock on his door. Levi asked, “You in there?”
Tyson pulled open the door and looked at Levi. “I’m here.”
Levi smiled. “A man of few words.”
Tyson shrugged. He didn’t understand the necessity for small talk.
“Mannford just contacted me from town. He wanted confirmation Kai was here today.”
Tyson frowned. “Why?”
“Apparently she’s having a potential problem with a stalker. She’s received several emails and texts. One of the emails today said he knows where she’s been.”
“Did he give proof he knew where she’d been?”
“No, but he sent photos of her apar
tment’s front door, her apartment number and her vehicle’s license plate.”
“Did somebody follow her here?”
“Ice is checking the security feeds right now.”
“A tracker on her vehicle?”
“It’s possible. Ice is meeting Kai tomorrow for lunch. I want you to take some equipment and check her car.”
“Will do.”
After Levi walked away, Tyson closed the door and turned back to his laptop. Stalker? Kai?
How the hell did that work? He ran through what he knew about stalkers and realized he didn’t know enough. He turned to his laptop for more information.
When he sat back a half hour later, he’d learned one of the major problems with stalkers. Too often they escalated to something much worse. Thank God Kai was one hell of a fighter. She was a warrior woman in a tight spot, and she’d give hell to any man who tried to kidnap her, rape her or anything else. But she also was susceptible to bullets, and drugs knocked out anybody. Even her.
For the first time in a long time he started to worry about someone else. He realized that, if someone didn’t help her, she could die too.
Chapter 4
Peace of mind was required to get a good night’s sleep.
Feeling rough around the edges, Kai hopped into the shower just so she could wake up enough to start the day. A couple cups of coffee later and she was awake enough to figure out what she had on her calendar. She’d probably spend the morning in the office until meeting Ice for lunch. She glanced around her apartment and considered the emails she’d gotten. Maybe she should stop by the police station first. She didn’t want to be forgotten or her stalker file to get thrown in a corner. Maybe if they saw her face every once in a while, they’d realize how much of a person she was, not just a file or case number. That didn’t mean the cops weren’t doing their job, but she felt so helpless.
When she’d had to deal with trouble before, she had a team beside her and orders to follow. And yet, here she was no longer part of the team, asking the police to step up and do the job her own unit would have done at her side. It felt odd and uncomfortable, and she admitted it made her feel insecure. In this new world nobody cared about her but her. At least not to the same extent. When she’d bought into the tech company, she’d been hoping it would become her new family. But then Mark had died in an accident, and everything had changed. Mark’s death had ripped away her newfound sense of security, her sense of belonging.
While still raw from that, she’d struggled to regain her footing and to take the helm of the company without being overt about it. And then the stalker had found her. Outside of keeping watch for anyone suspicious, eyeing her cell, taking precautions, there wasn’t a whole lot she could do about him. And therein lay the problem. She wanted a target. She wanted somebody she could go after. But there was no one.
The longer she thought about that, she’d be better off going to work an hour later and hitting the shooting range first. Her self-confidence had taken a hit with this stalker, and a surefire way of handling that was to regain control. She needed to be in control, not feel like a victim. Target practice was one of the best ways to feel empowered. Leaving the military she had also lost sparring partners. For the first time in a long time she realized maybe her skills weren’t quite as good as they should be. She needed time on the VR system herself.
She sent Warren a quick text that she’d be an hour late to the office. She packed up and headed to the local range. She had a membership there and was one of the regular faces. As she walked in, Johnson gave her a wave. She signed the book and headed into the back.
He called out, “Bad morning?”
She laughed. “The worst but that’s going to change.”
And true enough, forty minutes later, having beat the crap out of the targets, her arm now on the weaker side but her sense of invincibility and capability up, she realized she could start the day again. She high-fived Johnson as she walked out. “It’s all good now.”
He shook his head. “It’s a sick world out there. You watch your back.”
She shot him a startled look, wondering if he understood just how true a warning that was for her. She realized it was likely a comment he’d have tossed off to anybody. She walked to her car, considered the photos somebody had taken of it. But found no sign of anybody here, nor any sign of damage. She lay down on the ground and checked to see if anything was obviously out of place or damaged or a threat to her. And found nothing. But did she know what the latest gadgets even looked like?
She should have asked Levi if somebody could run a check on the vehicle. But that would require an explanation, and she wasn’t good at that. Everybody would say Kai was invincible. Nobody would dare attack her. She’d knock them hard if they did. At one point she had believed it to be true but the assiduous stalker’s threats were like fine sandpaper grating against her self-confidence. And the result was ugly.
Back at the office she caught up on the paperwork dumped on her desk, answered email messages and waited for the rest of the crew to come in. When nobody did, she sent out text messages. Is there a party I missed?
After a few minutes Tommy answered, You said we had the day off.
She stared at the text in surprise. I did? When?
This morning. You said everyone’s worked hard so take the day off. We all deserved it. So please don’t change that now.
Her heart slammed against her chest. She hit the telephone icon to call him. When he answered, she said, “I’m not trying to be an asshole of a boss, Tommy, but I didn’t send a text this morning.”
There was silence at the other end. “You didn’t?”
“I did not,” she said firmly. “And, until my stalker problem is solved, everybody has to speak with me—personally—about each and every email and text supposedly from me. I have no problem with everyone taking the day off, but I wouldn’t send a text to say that. That someone did scares the crap out of me.”
“It should,” he said, his voice serious. “It means the stalker knows your contacts. Great job.”
There was condemnation in his voice as he said it. She gasped in surprise. “Hey, I told you about this a long time ago. So why are you blaming me?”
He groaned. “I’m not blaming you. It’s just that he’s gotten all the contact information on my phone too.”
“Is that a bad thing?” She shook her head. She could handle a stray bullet, and most weapons and karate were a huge help for any hand-to hand defense. … And of course she’d learned a lot of dirty tricks from her combat training. But damn this technology stuff was confusing as hell.
“If he knows what he’s doing, it’s definitely a bad thing. And so far he’s demonstrated a decent amount of skill.”
“Am I supposed to get a phone that can’t be traced like he has?”
“That might be a good idea. We never considered it before because it didn’t seem necessary. It’s not like you’re some model or some famous figure who’ll have a fan following.”
She sat back and reached up a shaky hand to her forehead. “Really? That’s what you have to tell me? I’m not famous enough to have a stalker? So you think I’d make it up?”
“No, we definitely don’t think that you’ve been lying. But, at the same time, I really had thought the guy wasn’t serious. But now he’s impacted my world …”
She leaned forward and stared out her office door at the empty desk in front of her where Tommy would normally sit. “Oh, I see. So now that it’s touched your world, you’re ready to do something about it?” She winced at her own bitterness and gave herself a head shake. She wasn’t given to fits of panic or flights of fancy. So what she really needed to do … was calm down. “Look, I can’t talk about this right now. I’ll talk to you later.”
Just as she went to hang up, he said, “Wait.”
She looked at the phone again and said, “What?”
“Do we still have the day off?”
She glared at the phone and hung up
on him. To the empty room she said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if he came in and helped me out?” She sat, wondering how her wonderful new start in life had turned to sawdust in her mouth. How the company, the job she really loved, had evolved into working with assholes overnight.
She knew Tommy was an arrogant hormonal teenager, but he never got to her like this before. It made perfect sense he wouldn’t be worried about a stalker. He lived in innocence. Untouched by the darker side. To a certain extent, she did too. But the military had shown her what an ugly place the world was. Seeing what people did to each other … But it had never been personally directed against her. She’d never been singled out like she was now. And that was a whole different issue.
She could sit here and wait until her appointment with Ice, or she could do something productive. First she needed to check in with Warren.
“Why didn’t Warren contact me when he got that text?” she said to the empty room. She hit his contact number and waited for the phone to dial. When it went to voice mail, she figured he must have gotten the same text about taking the day off from work, even though he was part owner of the company. She’d normally expect a lambaste phone call from him. Particularly after their conversation last night. Warren was cheap in so many ways, and giving the staff the day off wasn’t something he’d do or agree to.
With nothing important in her emails that she couldn’t push off for another day, she got up and headed to the open parking lot on the same floor and behind their second-floor offices. Very convenient and where everyone had one designated spot to park.
She walked to her car, stopped and looked around. She hated that sense of being watched all the time. And yet, she never saw anyone. Shrugging, she got into her vehicle and drove toward her lunch appointment with Ice.
The bank and the nearby restaurant where she was meeting Ice were both in the same small shopping mall. Her insurance company was in the mall too. She stopped there first and renewed her car insurance. While there, she made inquiries about life insurance. Armed with pamphlets, way more than she had any intention of reading, she left and headed to the bank. Business banking done first, then she took out some cash for herself. In this day of plastic, it seemed like nobody used cash anymore. But she still preferred it for some things.
