Lethal Action

by Rachel Dylan

  Gabe took note of the people in the room. For Wakefield it was Lee, Nola, and Will the general counsel. Caleb and his deputy chief Mike both wore grim faces showing little expression. Hope’s color still hadn’t returned to her cheeks.

  “First things first,” Lee said. “I want to hear Hope’s story first hand with no interrupting. That way this group all has the benefit of hearing it from her and not from someone retelling it. You know how that can be.” Lee paused taking a sip of coffee. “Hope, the floor is yours.”

  Even though she was certainly nervous and probably still justifiably afraid, he watched as she composed herself before she spoke. Hope’s strength was a quality that not everyone had. And it seemed to come from an authentic place. He no longer thought that she could be involved in anything illegal with Nola.

  “Maybe I should back up before I talk about what happened this morning, I think it would be useful for everyone to hear what else has occurred since I’ve gotten into town.”

  “What do you mean?” Lee interjected. “There’s more?”

  “I think if you let Hope explain, it will all make sense,” Gabe said.

  Lee frowned but nodded to Hope to go on.

  “The first night I was here in Maxwell I woke up in the middle of the night. I thought I heard someone trying to get into my room. I got out of the bed and went to the door, but by the time I did, the person was long gone. I figured it was just a wrong room or something. There was no reason for me to be particularly alarmed.”

  “That’s possible,” Nola said.

  “Then last night Gabe and I were going to grab dinner after we left the law office. I wanted to stop by the inn to change clothes. When I went into my room, I noticed that it looked like someone had been tampering with my files. I only had a couple of file folders I left in the room, and there wasn’t anything particularly sensitive in them. Nothing was missing, but the papers didn’t look quite how I had them. I’m very picky about my files, so that’s why I thought something was awry.” She looked over at him as if asking if she should recount the close call with the truck. He took over.

  “Then when Hope got back into my car for us to hit up Mel’s, a truck followed us on our way there. Not just riding too close, but coming within inches of hitting us. I was able to take a quick turn and we lost the guy.”

  “Why hasn’t any of this been reported?” Mike scowled. “You know better, Gabe. You’re in private security. You can’t just keep this type of stuff to yourself. We’re the ones with the duty to protect our citizens and visitors.”

  “We were going to report all of it today,” Hope said. “But I had a meeting first thing with Mr. Nola and I had to attend to that business first. And since I’m from New York, I was a bit hesitant with you thinking that I was imagining things that couldn’t possibly happen in Maxwell. Well until this morning.”

  “We know you didn’t imagine the car incident if Gabe was with you,” Caleb said.

  While Caleb looked like the all American boy next door, Gabe knew he was tough as nails from his military training.

  “Which takes me to this morning. I was walking from the inn to the law firm. I didn’t think I’d have any reason to need to walk with anyone, so I went by myself. It’s not that far, and I assumed I would be perfectly safe. Right before I got into the town square, I was pulled around the corner against the side of the hardware store building. The man had either a knife or gun pushed into my side. He demanded that I tell him where the chip was. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he claimed that Wakefield stole a chip from Cyber Future.”

  “And Hope is leaving out the part where the guy almost choked her to death with his forearm. Her neck is badly bruised. You can still see the red marks from the struggle.”

  The room fell completely silent. All Gabe could hear was the hum of heater.

  Lee pounded his fist on the table breaking the intense silence. “We’re going to fix this. Chief Winters, I need the full support of the Maxwell Police Department on this.”

  “You’ll have it, Lee. But I must throw something out there, and that is, we don’t really have a good understanding of what is happening. We need to conduct an investigation. I would suggest that you let Gabe run his own investigation independent of our department. He’ll have more leeway than we will.”

  “Definitely,” Nola said.

  Ah, this is just what he was wanting. Access to Nola.

  “But first I have to ask you,” Caleb said, looking toward Lee. “Is there any truth to this theft claim by Cyber Future’s guy? And before you answer, I need to remind you that while I’m your friend, right now I’m acting as police chief. So if you want to talk this over internally for a minute, I will respect that.”

  No one said a word. Caleb stood up and motioned for Mike to do the same. They walked out of the conference room.

  Gabe waited a second and then jumped in, wanting to take control of the situation. “He’s right, you know. But irrespective of what you feel comfortable telling the local police, you need to tell me exactly what is going on. If you want me looking out for the best interest of Wakefield Corporation, I need to understand all the angles here. If that means there was a bit of corporate espionage going on, then so be it. But I need to understand the facts to be able to advise you on the security risks to the company and to the players in their individual capacity.”

  “I’ll start.” Lee leaned back in the big chair and propped his hands behind his head. “This is the very first I’ve heard about any of this. I certainly didn’t know about any supposed chip stealing. I don’t even know what chip they’re talking about. So whatever is it, it isn’t coming from my office or under my directive. Cyber Future doesn’t even have anything we would want!”

  “Why don’t we start there,” Hope said. “Has anyone found anything through this litigation that would give us insight into what chip the Cyber Future guys are talking about?”

  “I’ve heard rumors,” Nola said. “I’m sorry, Hope. I didn’t tell you earlier, but I wanted to check my sources before I mentioned anything. I didn’t want to add misinformation to an already complicated and dangerous situation.”

  This already started to sound suspect to Gabe. But he was glad that Nola was talking.

  “What rumors?” Lee asked.

  “That Cyber Future has created a chip that is smarter and better performing than the Wakefield Chip.”

  “Impossible,” Lee snorted.

  “Lee, you invented the chip. You’re too close to this to be unbiased,” Nola said.

  The two men exchanged heated looks, and Hope suddenly looked entirely uncomfortable. Not many people would have the guts to talk to the CEO of Wakefield Corporation like that. Nola obviously didn’t have any reservations. What did Nola have on Lee?

  “Back to the chip.” Gabe was trying to get back to the issue at hand.

  “Yes,” Nola said. “Anyway, if any of that is true, the Cyber Future Chip would be in direct competition with the Wakefield Chip. Cyber Future started as a distribution company but when they acquired that high tech company last year there have been rumors that they have begun developing a highly specialized arm of their business which would be a threat to Wakefield. It’s all been very hush hush because Cyber Future is basically running its tech arm like a black box. No information is really coming out of there.”

  “And why am I the last to hear this?” Lee’s voice boomed throughout the conference room.

  “I was going to tell you when I had more concrete intel. And after we got done with this trial. I know this lawsuit has been weighing on you. I was trying to protect you. On the stand, you could’ve said you knew nothing about this if it ever came up.”

  “How would this be relevant to this lawsuit?” Will asked.

  “You never know how tightly a judge is going to rule on relevancy grounds,” she said. “It would only take one or two questions to start some trouble.”

  “Sam needs to get down here now.” Lee pulled
out his cell.

  “Oh, he is. He’s flying in tonight instead of tomorrow.”

  “Carlos,” Lee said. “Since you seem to know more than anyone else about all of this. Are you certain that no one at Wakefield has the chip?”

  “If they do, they didn’t tell me about it.”

  He said it with ease, but Gabe didn’t believe the words out of his mouth. There were far too many neat coincidences.

  “Gabe,” Lee said. “I want you all over this. Find out exactly what is going on in my company. And stick close to Hope. We can’t have our lawyer being attacked on the streets of this town.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You two get out of here. I’ll deal with the police with these two guys, and then I need some time alone to strategize.”

  “I’ll have Sam call you when he gets in tonight. Maybe the two of you can have a late dinner,” she said.

  “That would be great.” Lee stood up and walked over to Hope. He reached out and took her hands.

  Gabe felt a flash of jealousy and protectiveness.

  “Hope, thank you for everything. I’m so sorry that you’ve been put into harm’s way. Gabe, please watch after her.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  They walked out of the conference room and saw Caleb and Mike down the hall. “I think they’re ready to talk to you,” Gabe said.

  “Good. But first I’d like to talk to the two of you. Hope, I plan to use your statement earlier to file a formal report,” Caleb said.

  She nodded. “Thank you, but I’m not sure what good that will do.”

  “Just doing things by the book,” Mike said.

  She slightly raised her eyebrow. Gabe liked the fact that she didn’t seem too keen on Mike either. But he couldn’t help but have a shred of annoyance toward his good friend Caleb. The way she smiled warmly at him bothered him. He knew it shouldn’t. He certainly had no claim on her.

  “Hope, I’m sorry your introduction to our town has been so unpleasant.” Caleb took a step toward her. “But know that Gabe is really good at his job. If there becomes a time at which you need any protection from our department, we’ll be there.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.” She stood with her arms crossed.

  “I don’t either, ma’am. But we’re on the case now. We’re going to figure out what is going on in Maxwell.”

  “Thank you.”

  Caleb and Mike went back into the conference room. He and Hope made their way outside the building without saying a word. When they got in the car he spoke.

  “Hope you’re up for some adventure tonight.”

  “What?” she croaked.

  ***

  Adventure was about the last thing Hope wanted right now. But here she was standing in the lobby of the Maxwell Inn. Dressed all in black thanks to Gabe’s suggestion, waiting for him to pick her up. He’d been very cryptic about what they were going to do. She sure hoped it was legal. Although she figured at the end of the day he was still an FBI agent. Which meant he had to play by the law whether he liked it or not.

  She touched her throat, now extremely tender, and flashed back to the morning. She’d never been physically attacked by a person before in her life. Her childhood was filled with emotional abuse but this was a particularly jarring experience. The thought of that man’s strong arm pressing the life out of her. Dare she turn to God? Would He listen to her?

  It had been a very long time since she’d really even tried to have a serious conversation with God. She’d become totally disconnected from her faith. Not that she even had a very firm foundation in faith to begin with. But a near death experience was starting to make her wonder whether she should rethink that.

  One of the main reasons for her disconnect was Barry. He’d been so antagonistic toward her faith. Openly hostile. He’d told her she was a fool for believing in something so irrational. That science alone should dictate how intelligent people think.

  It bothered her that she’d been too weak to stand up to him. And look where that all had gotten her. Alone, cheated on, and terribly hurt. She promised herself that she’d start making her own decisions about everything. That included her love life, her career, and most importantly her decisions about faith. So if she wanted to talk to God, there was no one to stop her now.

  She wrapped the black scarf around her neck as if that would take away some of the pain. She watched as Gabe’s headlights approached.

  Walking to the car, she wondered what he had planned for the evening.

  “Hey.” He smiled at her, instantly putting her at ease.

  “You were real tight lipped about this whole thing besides me wearing black.”

  “I did that just to add a bit of intrigue. Thought you could use a bit of lightening up, given all that’s been happening. But we are going to do some recon.”

  “What kind of recon?”

  “Back at Wakefield. We’re going to look through Nola’s office.”

  “Are you crazy?” she asked. “Why would we take a risk like that?”

  “No, I’m not crazy. And I’ve been given full security clearance to every part of Wakefield. I spoke to Lee a bit of go and he personally granted the access. I assured him I would be judicious but thorough. He doesn’t like the sound of this competitive chip. And he definitely didn’t like being in the dark. Especially when his own board member was the one withholding information. There’s a bit of distrust brewing between those two.”

  “Ah, I see now. Lee gave you the green light to snoop on Nola.”

  “I like that you can put these pieces together. You’d be a good field agent. Ever thought of a career change?”

  She laughed. “First I need to find some success in my current career, don’t you think?”

  “Seems like you’re doing pretty good to me. You’re second chairing a trial with a hundred million dollar damages claim. If that’s not success, then I’m not really sure what is. You’ve only been at the firm five years.”

  “That one hundred million dollars number. That’s total bogus, you know. They inflated their damages claim. A hundred million dollar verdict would never hold up on appeal given the terms of the contract.”

  He looked over at her. “It doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t be here if the partners at the firm didn’t think you were up to the task. That speaks a lot for someone who has been at the firm for five years.”

  “You’ve been doing your background research on me.” She wasn’t really surprised. That’s exactly what the FBI did. Especially if he ever truly suspected that she would be working in tandem with Nola.

  “I’m good at my job too, Hope. You have a solid resume, great law school credentials. Top of your class and all.”

  “And it’s all earned. Nothing I’ve achieved has come from any favor or any connection. Because I didn’t have any. I’m a hard worker. I believe that is half the battle. It’s amazing what effort and attention to detail can get you. Particularly as a lawyer.”

  “On an even more serious topic, how are you feeling from the attack this morning?”

  She looked out the car window as he drove. The sun had set and the road wasn’t that well lit on the way out to Wakefield. She was grateful that she had Gabe with her. “Do you always carry a weapon?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Good.”

  “You didn’t exactly answer my question.”

  “A wide range of emotions. First, I was in complete shock. I’ve lived in New York all my life. Born and raised. And I’ve never had anything remotely like that happen to me there. That’s the irony of it all. Come to small town Georgia and get attacked on the street.”

  “There is more trouble on the horizon in Maxwell. That’s for sure.” He paused. “Okay, then after the shock how did you feel?”

  “Scared. But the fear didn’t last as long as I thought it would. Anger came next. Anger at the man who hurt me. Anger at the entire situation. And anger at myself that I didn’t have the strength or ability to defend mys
elf.”

  “Wait, now. None of this is your fault. And it isn’t like you had many options. The guy had a weapon on you.”

  “I’ve always wanted to take self-defense classes, but would come up with excuses not to sign up for classes. The firm comes first for me. Before everything and anyone—including myself. I thought I didn’t have the time or energy to devote to classes. But when I get home, I will definitely be making time. I feel like this entire experience has made me question my priorities a bit. Not that I think they’re wrong, but just a bit of reflection. Which I guess is a good thing, if you can say anything good can come out of being accosted. I’m not one to reflect too much. Or think about the past if I can help it.”

  “Do you go to church? Here in Maxwell most people go to church. All a big part of the southern culture.”

  How much of her personal life did she want to share with Gabe? He had been a steadying force since she arrived in Maxwell and surprisingly was becoming a friend. But on the other hand, her life was complex. She didn’t want to be judged for her choices by this man.

  “It’s complicated.”

  He laughed. “That’s code for back off, Gabe.”

  She couldn’t help but smile to herself. He had a good sense of humor. “I went to church for a bit. My family wasn’t religious at all so I didn’t go to church growing up. But in college I met a friend who was involved in campus ministries. So I went with her some while I was in school.”

  “And then at some point you stopped going?”

  “That’s the complicated part.”

  He didn’t respond, and she wondered if he was going to let it go.

  “If you ever want to talk about it, I’m a good listener. No pressure though.” He paused. “I grew up here and church was just a way of life. It was just as much a part of life as going to school, going to work, or going to the grocery store. My dad died when I was pretty young. A massive stroke. Totally unexpected. But my mom and grandma were completely faithful. Church every Sunday without fail. But don’t get me wrong. There are church goers in this town who don’t exactly lead by example if you know what I mean.”