The Sniper

by Kimberly Van Meter

  “Call your buddy,” Nathan instructed tersely. “I’m only going to wait for so long before going to Tom.”

  “But James said he’d call us if he had information,” she protested with a frown. “Shaking his chain isn’t going to make him work any faster. This is delicate stuff.”

  “I don’t care. Call him.”

  Jaci scowled and pulled a different burner phone from her purse and dialed James’s number. It went to voice mail and she hung up. “No answer.” She bit her lip, worried. “Do you think James is okay? Should we check on him?”

  “We’ll wait another hour then call him again.”

  “What are we going to do in the city for an hour while we wait? It’s not like we can drive around all night, and the cabin is too far to make a temporary trek,” she pointed out.

  “I know a place we can go.”

  “Where?”

  “The city is loaded with safe houses owned by ID There’s one near here that is usually unoccupied because it’s one of the older places that isn’t listed on the manifest any longer.”

  “Why didn’t we go there in the first place?” she asked.

  “Because there are a handful of people who know about this place, but no one knows about my cabin in the mountains. Call me paranoid but I liked having that extra layer of separation.”

  She nodded, her head spinning at the layers she’d only just begun to peel back on what constituted Nathan’s life. It made her wonder how he’d ever imagined he could start a life with another person. Maybe he hadn’t and every word that had ever crossed his lips had been a lie. “Did you ever plan to stay with me or was I just a temporary diversion from your patriot games?” she asked, unable to stop her mouth.

  “Jaci...don’t start,” he warned with a subtle weariness to his tone that immediately set her off.

  “You can’t shut me down each time I ask you a question that you don’t want to answer. I deserve information, especially when your misinformation wrecked my life.”

  “Why do you always pick the most inopportune time to dig into the past? You make it nearly impossible for me to protect your feelings.”

  “I don’t want you to protect my feelings. Please, God, don’t protect me any longer! Don’t you realize that it was your attempt to protect me that hurt me the most?”

  Nathan startled her when he slammed his hand against the steering wheel, his voice rising. “Yes! What am I supposed to do? Say I’m sorry? Okay, yes I’m sorry for hurting you. But right now I’m trying to keep you alive! Doesn’t that register in your brain? Why don’t we just agree that I was an ass and leave it at that. End of story. Done. I’m the bad guy and you’re my innocent victim. Satisfied?”

  “You self-righteous jerk. And no, you don’t get off that easily. If you’re going to attempt an apology, you need to start with a real one, not some half-baked spouting off in a fit of anger because you feel defensive. And, honestly, I don’t think I’d accept an apology just yet. I want answers. I want to know why you started a relationship with me when you had no intentions of following through. Were you just looking for a one-night stand or a quick fling for your vacation? You could’ve been honest from the start. Then at least I would have been aware that your heart was never an option.”

  “I didn’t string you along.” Nathan rubbed the steering wheel where he’d slapped it. “You were a game changer in my life. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Everything that has happened up until this point has been me trying to protect you from my life. I never wanted you to get mixed up in the situations that have happened. I want you to go on living your life as you always had, oblivious to the danger that thrives in the city right beneath your nose. And for a while I thought I could make it work, but when your place got broken in to, I knew I’d been living a lie and I couldn’t subject you to further harm.”

  “You could’ve trusted me and given me a chance to make the choice whether I wanted to stay or go. Instead you didn’t give me any options and simply did things your way, and look how everything has crumbled around you.”

  “It’s not a question of trusting you. Don’t you realize you deserve to have better?”

  “Damn you, Nathan. It’s not your job to determine what I deserve. It’s my choice the way I live my life or who I allow in it.”

  They drove until the lights of the city began to fade and the streetlamps became less maintained and the road less smooth until they rolled into a really old, forgotten neighborhood that had fallen into disrepair. Perhaps at one time it had been posh because Jaci could see evidence of good solid craftsmanship in the sagging eaves of some of the houses and she wondered how many lives had come and gone over each threshold through the years. There was a sadness clinging to the street as a deathly quiet filled the air. She couldn’t stop the shudder that followed as she said, “It’s kind of creepy. Now I know why no one wants to stay here.”

  Nathan agreed as he climbed from the truck. “Yeah, it’s no five star, that’s for sure. But that suits our purposes perfectly. The less people snooping around, the better.”

  Jaci followed Nathan as they walked up to the old, still house, it’s darkened shutters not the least bit inviting for any length of time and Jaci asked, “Is there even electricity or running water?”

  “I hope so. Only one way to find out.”

  “Did I ever tell you I’ve never been a fan of camping?” she muttered and Nathan actually chuckled under his breath. The house looked like a hiding point for every refugee of the wildlife kingdom and some of the insect world, too, and Jaci wondered for a brief moment if staying alive was worth the price of staying one moment in that house.

  * * *

  Talk about your low-rent accommodations, he thought grimly to himself as they carefully navigated the dark house in search of a light switch or flashlight to see by. He banged his shin several times on various hard lumps of furniture and by the time his questing fingers found a small lamp by the decrepit sofa, his legs were throbbing from each hit. He held his breath and snapped on the light. To his relief it popped on, shedding a watery glow on the dismal surroundings. Something scurried from the weak illumination and Jaci jumped, stuffing her fist in her mouth to keep from shrieking. “Most likely a rat,” he said with a grimace. “Stay here while I do a quick search and make sure there’s nothing else hiding in the corners.” Nathan pulled his gun and motioned for Jaci to stay put while he secured the house.

  The tight quarters left little to hide, probably one of the reasons ID had purchased the house back in the Stone Age as the house had little by way of convenience. Frankly he was almost surprised it had an indoor toilet. There was one double bed in the master bedroom that looked as appealing as a bed of nails and another bedroom off to the left that housed a sagging twin bed, the mattress likely a home for a host of vermin.

  He returned to find Jaci in the same spot he’d left her, her expression leaving no room for confusion as to her feelings about the place. “Sorry,” he said with a sigh. “It sucks but at least we’re safe. The windows are bulletproof glass and the doors have reinforced locks with steel frames. Anyone trying to get at us from outside is going to give us fair enough warning so we can bug out before they succeed.” He was trying to make her feel safe but she still looked miserable. He went to the sofa and jerked the covering free to shake out the dust and then replaced it, saying as he tried to make the best of it, “The place isn’t that bad when you get over the shock. I mean, it’s not luxury but with a little bit of elbow grease, it could be a decent place to hole up.”

  She shot him an incredulous look before gingerly sitting on the sofa. “This is worse than camping,” she said. “At least when you’re camping, you have s’mores to eat.”

  He laughed and sat beside her, drawing her close when she looked ready to burst into tears. “Camping can be fun,” he said, telling himself he was just tryi
ng to ease her fear and take her mind off the situation for at least a moment but as soon as she leaned into him, he wanted to tip her head toward him to seal his mouth to hers. “The good news is, there aren’t many things around that can actually kill you, bug-or reptile-wise. Unlike when I was stationed in Afghanistan where the hobo spider or brown recluse can really wreck your life.”

  “What about black widows?” she reminded him. “James got bitten by a widow when he was clearing out the garage and he had to go to the hospital.”

  Nathan gritted his teeth at the mention of her hero, James, knowing his reaction was off base. But it was hard to reconcile the fact that another man had been there for her when he could not. And because he couldn’t simply let it go, he asked in the most casual tone he could muster, “I don’t remember you mentioning James when we were dating.... How long have you known each other?”

  “We’ve been friends for years,” she answered, oblivious to his churning jealousy. “We went to school together but we sort of drifted apart—you know how it happens when life simply takes you in different directions. But he really came through for me when I needed him. He didn’t hesitate to offer me a place to stay when I called him crying. He’s a very good friend.”

  “Yeah, I can imagine,” he said, not buying James’s seeming benevolence without ulterior motives. “You don’t think that maybe James has a thing for you? Seems a perfect scenario if you ask me. Vulnerable girl in a bad situation, the guy rides in like the hero and saves the day.”

  She pulled away, a frown creasing her forehead. “That’s not what happened. James is a friend and only a friend. I can guarantee he’s never looked at me in that way.”

  “I beg to differ. He seemed pretty protective of you that day in the library.”

  “As a friend.”

  “As a potential love interest,” he corrected her.

  Her frown smoothed out and she said coolly, “Well, either way, I don’t see how it’s any of your business. We’re not dating and the whole reason I needed a place to stay was because you had duped me into thinking I was going to be living with you in a beautiful house with a gorgeous backyard up in the hills. So...shut it and leave it be.”

  Everything she said was true. But he still wanted to push the venerable James off a pier. It was dumb caveman mentality but unlike Jaci, he wasn’t naive to the way James had looked at her. Whether she realized it or not, James was hoping to become more than a just a friend.

  And sorry, James...that just wasn’t going to happen—not if Nathan had anything to do with it.

  “I’m just saying not everyone plays their ace the minute the game starts,” he said.

  At that Jaci held his stare and he felt skinned to his bones as she said, “Yes, I’ve figured that out, thanks to you. If you’re finished being a hypocrite, I’d like to get back to the business of staying alive. You were right. Talking about the past is a dead-end street.” She rose and dusted off her behind. “I need to find a bathroom.”

  “Second door on the right,” he muttered, angry at himself for venturing into territory that was off-limits for good reason. He was being a hypocrite but he couldn’t help himself.

  With Jaci he always lost control of everything...including his heart.

  Chapter 14

  James startled as he opened the front door and saw Jaci and Nathan sitting in his living room waiting for him. Jaci jumped up and wrapped her friend in a tight hug. “Why don’t you answer your phone? You had us worried sick that something terrible had happened to you,” she admonished with equal parts exasperation and relief that he was okay.

  James, looking as if he’d been pulling several all-nighters with the help of street drugs and coffee, ran a hand through his grimy hair and mumbled an apology as he flopped into his desk chair where his computer was working on some task. Jaci watched the rapidly scrolling numbers on the screen and asked, “Did you find a way into the database?”

  “Sort of.” He cast a look at Nathan. “It’s not as if I can just use a standard hack for this kind of stuff. Backdoor channels all the way and even still, it’s pretty slow. Plus, there’s the whole not-wanting-to-die thing that’s tripping me up.”

  “I’m sorry, James, that I put you in this position,” she said, feeling terrible. “I didn’t know who else to ask.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “For you, the risk is worth it.”

  Jaci caught Nathan’s subtle eye roll and she tried to forget what Nathan had said about James’s feelings for her. “What did you find?” she asked.

  “I managed to find a backdoor channel to an older email service provider, which then allowed me into the current email settings and accounts.” As Jaci and Nathan started to get excited, James shut them down fairly quickly. “But here’s the catch...it’s all in binary code. It would take weeks to unravel all the data and something tells me you don’t have weeks for me to do this.”

  Jaci moaned with disappointment. “No, we don’t have weeks,” she answered, looking to Nathan. “Now what?”

  Nathan took a long moment to think and then said, “What if you could log in with my email account into the system? Would that give you any kind of advantage?”

  “Do you have administrative privileges on the system?” James asked wryly to which Nathan shook his head. “Then no. But if you could get a password with admin privies then I could easily get in, select the files you need and back out again relatively undetected.”

  “Do you know who might have admin privileges?” she asked Nathan.

  “Tom,” he answered with certainty. “He’s at the top of the food chain and has all-access clearance to every op in ID.”

  “And I doubt he’s going to hand over his password just to be helpful,” she murmured. “We’re screwed.”

  James leaned forward and rubbed his eyes free of something and when he refocused his red-shot eyes, Jaci felt an admonishment on the tip of her tongue for not taking care of himself but she held it in check for Nathan’s sake. She shouldn’t give a damn what Nathan thought about the people in her personal life but for some reason it mattered to her what he construed about her relationship with James. She forced a warm smile in spite of the disappointment, saying. “Thank you, James, for trying. We set you on an impossible task to begin with. Don’t feel bad that you didn’t succeed.”

  “I just need more time,” James countered with frustration. “Their system is tough but not so tough that I couldn’t crack it with a little more time.”

  “Sadly, that’s the one thing we can’t give you,” she said, looking to Nathan who nodded in agreement. “Besides, I don’t want you to get in any deeper. This is dangerous stuff. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  James smiled blearily at her worry and Jaci nearly smacked him for not being serious when he said, “This is the most fun I’ve had in ages. It’s been a long time since I’d encountered anything resembling a challenge. I’m not giving up yet,” he added with a renewed vigor that she didn’t think was possible. “I’m just hitting my stride. A few more double espressos and I’ll be attaining the subspace of my true hacker abilities.”

  “Okay, now I know you’re delirious. Please get some sleep and eat some real food,” she advised him with true worry. “I’m serious, James.”

  “Let the man do his work,” Nathan said to Jaci, giving James a nod of approval. “If he says he’s close, let’s give him the space to make it happen. We can give you twenty-four hours. Will that work?”

  “I’ll take it,” James said. “Now get out of here before I lose my steam.”

  Jaci didn’t want to leave but Nathan seemed more than happy to watch James melt his brain on this foolhardy mission. She glared up at Nathan as he hustled her out of the apartment but she waited until they were back in the truck to let him have it. “You are something else, you know that?” she said.

 
“What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t play innocent with me, Nathan. You know that James isn’t going to be able to break into the database and yet you encouraged him to keep at it. Did you not see how terrible he looked?”

  “He looked like warmed-over dog crap,” he agreed without hesitation but added to her surprise, “But genius is one step from crazy and since he’s plainly tipping over into mental status, I figure the answer to our problems isn’t far behind. Sometimes you have to let the crazy out to truly see the genius emerge.”

  “What? That’s...ridiculous,” she stated until she really gave his theory more thought. It was true that she’d never seen James so laser focused before. In fact, in the past James was always more chill and laid-back—almost lazy—about most things, but a fire had been burning behind his eyes that she’d never seen before, which made her wonder if Nathan was right. “How do you know this?”

  “I’ve worked with a few geniuses in my time. Their hardwiring is different from ours but about the same with each other. I say all James needs is another twenty-four hours and either his brain will explode with an aneurysm—” she gasped and he continued with a shrug “—or he’ll get us the information we need. So, we have twenty-four hours to kill until then. Cabin or safe house?”

  She shuddered at the thought of spending another moment in that decrepit architectural relic and in spite of the long drive, answered almost gratefully, “Cabin.”

  * * *

  Jaci fell asleep during the ride back to the cabin and Nathan used the quiet time as an opportunity to sort through the tangle of questions that had been pestering him since he’d talked to Miko.

  He knew that if he didn’t figure out who was behind all of this he’d likely spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder, just as Miko was. And that was no life at all.

  The fact of the matter was, if Miko didn’t skip town, whoever was after him would eventually get Miko, too, no matter how many thugs he employed. No one was invulnerable forever. Eventually the targets always let their guard down and they received a bullet sandwich for their trouble.