Betrayed

by Karen E. Olson

  ‘We have to leave,’ I say. Zeke’s warnings resonate in my head. But now they include Spencer. Whoever it is can’t find him here either – can’t find all of this.

  Spencer is one step ahead of me. He’s already clearing hard drives. ‘I’m on Tor,’ he says, more to himself than to me. ‘What the fuck.’

  He’s got a lot more to lose than I do, since he’s part of Incognito.

  He gets up and starts unplugging everything. I don’t say anything, but I begin to help him, shutting off the monitors. ‘Do we leave it all here?’ I ask.

  ‘We don’t know what kind of time we’ve got,’ he says. It could take a while to wipe everything clean. He leaves the room and comes back with a couple of screwdrivers. He hands me one. I have already started pulling out all the wires. I know what we need to do. Without saying anything to each other, we move quickly, until we have a pile of hard drives on the floor. Spencer finds a plastic bag, scoops them up, and puts them into the bag.

  ‘It’s road trip time.’ Spencer pulls on a sweatshirt, yanking the hood over his head.

  ‘It’s a hundred and fifty degrees out there,’ I say.

  ‘I live in Miami. This is, like, fucking winter.’ He is walking toward the door, the bag of hard drives slapping against his thigh, a laptop under his armpit. He takes one last look back at his monitors, and then he’s got his keys in his hand, and we go outside. I’ve got the backpack over my shoulder.

  ‘When was the last time you were outside? You’re probably allergic to the sun, like a vampire or something.’ I don’t think I’m too far from the truth. I recognize the signs: empty pizza boxes from a place in Coconut Grove that delivers and bags from the local supermarket’s delivery service.

  He ignores me.

  Once in the car, he turns to me before starting it up.

  ‘Where are we going?’ I ask.

  ‘Trust me,’ he says, and we’re on the move.

  For the first time in a long time, I actually do find myself trusting someone. Spencer was as surprised as I was to see that he’d been hacked, that someone was probably on his way to his house. I wonder again about who could have had the skills to get through his security so easily.

  ‘Use your cell and call Zeke. Tell him what’s going on,’ Spencer says.

  I pull it out and find the number.

  He answers quickly. ‘Where are you? I hope you’re long gone.’

  ‘Working on it.’ I am about to tell him about the hack.

  ‘I told you to get out of town.’ Something in his tone makes pause.

  ‘What’s going down, Zeke? Have you found out something?’

  ‘No.’ His answer’s too quick, too final.

  ‘What’s up?’ I press.

  ‘I can’t say. Not right now. But trust me, it’s not good and we’re all in danger. Where are you?’

  I glance over at Spencer, whose eyes are shaded by a surprisingly classic pair of Ray-Bans. I would have expected something more John Lennon-like.

  ‘We were at Spencer’s,’ I say, ‘but Betr@yD found us there. We broke down the hard drives and are on our way …’ I stop, not sure.

  ‘Tell him Hollywood,’ Spencer says. ‘He’ll know where to meet us.’

  ‘He’s not taking you to Hollywood, is he?’ Zeke is asking.

  ‘That’s right,’ I say.

  I hear a heavy sigh. ‘I’ll see you there.’

  ‘You can’t tell me anything?’ I don’t want to hang up until I get an answer. I don’t like being in the dark, and Zeke is a little bit too much about keeping everyone in the dark. I know it has to do with the fact that he’s FBI, but we’re all involved and we all need as much information as possible.

  ‘You’re not going to like it,’ he warns.

  ‘I haven’t liked anything about any of this, so what makes this different?’

  ‘I’ve been with Adriana.’

  It takes a few seconds for this to register. ‘DeMarco?’ I ask, the name curdling on my lips as soon as I say it.

  ‘She needed my help.’

  A hundred questions pepper my brain, and the one that comes out is ‘And are you helping?’ It is not the question I really want an answer to, but it’s out there and I have to live with it. For now.

  ‘It’s not what you think.’

  I don’t know what I think. I only know that there is a pit in my stomach that’s getting bigger with each moment. I tell myself there is a logical explanation for this. That I am a reasonable woman who, especially after this morning, should not feel threatened.

  Yet still I do.

  ‘I’ll meet you in Hollywood and explain,’ he says. And then the call ends.

  I take the phone away from my ear and hold it limply in my hand, the landscape whishing by in a blur as we head north.

  FORTY-FOUR

  By the time Spencer parks the car, I am overwhelmed with claustrophobia. This has more to do with the fact that I don’t have the whole story, that, despite my best efforts, my imagination has run away with me. Why would Zeke be with Adriana? And why couldn’t he have just told me on the phone?

  The sky has grown darker as the day winds down. When the car finally stops, I stumble out and make my way to the beach. I am only vaguely aware of Spencer following me as I pull off my sneakers and dig my toes into the sand. The salt water rushes over my feet, and I feel the pressure as it tries to pull me back with it. I want to go.

  Spencer is standing next to me now, his sandals in one hand. He’s smoking a joint with the other, offers it to me. I stare at it for a second, then take it. It’s been a long time, and I choke on the smoke that’s invaded my lungs. I give the joint back to him, doubled over until it passes.

  He chuckles. ‘You are going to get so high.’

  I stand back up, and I get a head rush. I’m not used to this; I’d make do with a glass of brandy, a beer. Grown-up highs.

  ‘How long has it been going on?’ I ask him.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Adriana DeMarco.’

  Spencer nods. ‘Oh.’

  ‘How long?’

  He hesitates only a second before answering. ‘He hasn’t been with her since he found you.’

  Even though I asked him outright, I didn’t really expect this and it hits me in the gut.

  He’s still talking. ‘It was his undercover thing. I don’t know what it’s all about.’

  ‘But he told you about her.’

  Spencer takes another hit and offers it to me again, but I shake my head. He shrugs. ‘I’ve known him a long time,’ he adds. ‘He doesn’t just screw around.’

  That really doesn’t make me feel better. I try to empty my head, breathe in the salt air, willing it to calm me, as it has so many times before.

  ‘Let’s go.’ Spencer grabs my hand, but it’s not what I think. Instead of leading me back to the car, he’s guiding me further into the water.

  I stop short, yank my hand away. ‘What are you doing?’ I’m trying to sound angry, but I’m too high. This was definitely not a smart move.

  ‘Let’s go for a swim.’ He pulls his T-shirt over his head, revealing a pasty white torso with a little bit of a gut. He is so white that he almost glows in the dark.

  I can’t help myself. I start laughing. ‘You live in Miami. How can you not be tanned?’

  He gives me a grin and runs into the surf. I move a little closer, and while I don’t plan to go in, I soon feel the water rushing around my calves. It feels so good. I watch Spencer splashing several feet away, his head under and then back up, tossing his long locks around his head. I think about the backpack in the car – and the disposable phone. If Zeke is trying to call, then no one will answer.

  My head is spinning with the weed, and I am so relaxed. Far more relaxed than I’ve been for days. Without realizing what I’m doing, I drop down. The water is warm, womb-like, and I sit as it rushes over me. All I can think is, when I can get up again, I’m going to make Spencer take me to a hotel, sleep it off, and leave in the mo
rning.

  I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting here when a long shadow crosses in front of me. I stiffen, uncertain.

  ‘Water nice?’

  Zeke wades in next to me, his chinos yanked up around his knees, his shoes in his hand. Spencer is suddenly there, too, in front of us, and he shakes himself off like a dog.

  ‘Dude,’ he says to Zeke.

  ‘How did you find us here?’ I ask.

  Zeke and Spencer share a look that tells me they’ve been here before, that this place holds memories that maybe I’ll never know about. ‘OK, fine, so keep your secret,’ I mumble.

  I hear a quick intake of breath. ‘Jesus. You’re stoned.’

  ‘I am not.’ But even I can hear the singsong tone that indicates I just might be.

  ‘Uh-oh. I’m in trouble, aren’t I?’ Spencer asks.

  Zeke rolls his eyes. ‘I can’t leave you alone.’

  ‘Dude, your shadow found us. He was coming after us.’

  ‘So you thought it was a good idea to come to Hollywood?’

  Spencer shrugs. ‘Thought we should get out of the city.’ He gives me a glance, then says, ‘You two need to have a conversation.’ And with that, he wades past us and goes up on the beach. I twist around a little to see that he doesn’t stop, but heads for the boardwalk.

  Zeke leans over and holds out his hand. ‘Come on, Tina. Let’s take a walk.’

  I don’t like to think that I need his hand to steady me as I get up, but I do. Spencer was right. I am really high.

  Zeke continues to hold my hand as we walk along the water’s edge. ‘There’s nothing going on. There’s a reason I saw her.’

  ‘I bet there is.’

  ‘I’m not that big an asshole.’

  For some reason – probably the weed – this strikes me as hilarious and I begin to laugh.

  ‘Someone hacked into her laptop.’

  That stops me short. ‘What?’

  Zeke pulls his hand out of mine and folds his arms across his chest. ‘OK, here’s the deal. Adriana thinks I’m with tech support.’

  ‘Tech support? Where?’

  ‘I may have been wearing a polo shirt with a logo on it when she was bringing her laptop in for servicing.’

  I narrow my eyes at him. ‘You may have been? Or you were? I can’t believe you’re poaching business.’

  ‘She thought I had just gotten to work. We were still in the parking lot. I offered to fix her laptop at a discount.’

  ‘You didn’t take her money?’

  ‘It would’ve looked suspicious if I hadn’t.’ His lips twitch, as though he wants to smile.

  ‘And it wasn’t suspicious that you were lying in wait in the parking lot and just happened to be able to fix her computer? How did you know? That she needed tech support?’

  ‘It was over a year ago. I had the brilliant idea that maybe I could get to her father through her, and maybe her laptop might help me get inside. But she’s clean. Really clean. But since then, if she’s got a computer issue, she calls me.’ He hasn’t answered my question, but by saying this, he’s addressed another one.

  I shake my head. ‘I can’t believe you’re keeping it up.’

  ‘Maybe I still hold out a little hope I’ll find out something about her father.’

  ‘Fair enough. But you could have told me.’ I pause. ‘So she called you today?’

  Zeke nods. ‘She has a shadow, and whoever got in there is asking for ransom.’

  A little chill runs up my spine. ‘Let me guess. He wants a million in bitcoins.’ Exactly what my shadow asked for last year.

  ‘That’s right.’

  My head is spinning. I had assumed that my shadow was asking for the money in response to the bank job and what I’d stolen. Adriana DeMarco didn’t steal from anyone, especially not her father. ‘What does this mean?’

  ‘It means someone is playing all the angles.’

  FORTY-FIVE

  ‘Is it hers, the computer that we saw through the router?’ I ask.

  ‘No, I don’t think so.’

  I hear someone coming up from behind, and I turn to see Spencer jogging toward us, his breath loud and ragged. ‘Come on, dudes. Taco Beach Shack.’ He looks directly at me. ‘You’ve got to be hungry.’

  The moment he says it, I realize I’m starving. The spaghetti at Spencer’s wasn’t nearly enough, and tacos suddenly seem like a wonderful idea. Zeke rolls his eyes, but he follows us.

  The Taco Beach Shack is more of an upscale beach shack, with couches and pillows under a huge canopy. The small wooden building looks more like its moniker, a row of barstools surrounding it, ‘Happy Hour’ in neon on one of the open windows. We find an empty table and sit, reading the menu on surfboards. When the waitress finally arrives, Spencer takes over and orders shrimp tacos, nachos, and beers. I am salivating with the thought of the food, and Zeke watches us both with an amused smile on his face.

  ‘I had no idea you’d be so susceptible to his charms,’ he says to me, but then his expression darkens. ‘I don’t know what you two were thinking, whether you even thought about what would happen. A RAT? Seriously?’

  ‘It was a good idea,’ I say. ‘We didn’t know he’d be able to hack us.’

  The waitress shows up with the beer, and when she leaves, Zeke leans in toward us and says, ‘So tell me exactly what happened.’

  Spencer and I take turns relating how we’d tricked ‘Tracker’ and put the remote access Trojan into the link.

  ‘He used it against you.’

  ‘We were inside his computer. Tina says it’s the same one you saw through the router,’ Spencer says.

  ‘It was Betr@yD,’ I add. ‘I think he’s Tracker, too.’

  ‘So how did he get through your firewalls and VPN?’ Zeke asks.

  ‘Beats me.’ Spencer sighs. ‘Years I’ve been at this, and no one has ever caught me. Not since …’ His voice trails off and I know what he’s thinking. Not since he got caught and thrown in prison all those years ago.

  ‘You had to have let him in somehow.’

  ‘I know. But I can’t figure it out.’

  ‘You wiped everything clean, right?’

  Spencer gives him a look that says I’m not stupid. ‘Bag of hard drives in the car.’

  ‘What I don’t understand,’ I say, ‘is the connection between my shadow and the one inside Adriana’s laptop. Who is targeting both of us? Tony wouldn’t do that. Would Ian?’

  Zeke leans back and takes a drink from his bottle. ‘Maybe he’s covering all his bases. Maybe he’s trying to get as much money as possible so he can get away. Make his own life.’

  ‘But he’s got kids. It’s easier alone.’

  We all look at each other. That’s it. What if he’s not planning on taking anyone with him? What if his plan is to leave them behind? Make a new life somewhere, like I did? He already has a name that’s not his own. I know how easy it is to take on another identity.

  ‘What’s awful,’ I say, ‘is that he’s using his son for his own purposes, even if that’s not what he plans on doing.’

  ‘I’ve got access to Daniel’s computer in the apartment, but I also managed to get into his laptop,’ Zeke said. ‘That wasn’t easy; he’s got a lot of security. A lot more than I expected. But I can shadow him, see what he’s up to. I’ve got a laptop, and you’ve got yours, right?’ He’s asking Spencer. ‘After we eat, I’ve got a place we can go.’

  My hands begin to sweat with the thought of it. For someone who just days ago had sworn off hacking, I’m in it so deep right now and I still feel that thrill. I tell myself again that I will still walk away after all this. I will cut myself off. But is it an empty promise?

  Our food comes, and conversation ceases, although I can tell from the thoughtful expressions that we are all trying to work out how we’re going to go about catching the shadow at his own game.

  After we’ve paid our bill, we head back to the parking lot. When we reach the cars, Zeke tells Spencer, ‘I�
��ll take Tina and you follow.’

  As I’m strapping on my seat belt, Zeke leans over and brushes my lips with his.

  ‘Hey,’ he whispers.

  I give him a small smile. ‘Hey, back.’ I hesitate.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Spencer seemed to think that something was going on. I mean, with you and Adriana. He said you hadn’t seen her since you found me.’ I wait for him to contradict this, but he’s silent a little too long. ‘He’s not right, is he?’

  ‘No, no, he’s not right,’ Zeke says. ‘I don’t know why I let him think that.’

  ‘But he did know about her?’

  ‘He helped me a couple times. I mean, helped me hack her. That’s when I found out there wasn’t anything there. To do with her father, anyway.’ The way he says it, I know he found something else.

  ‘What is it?’ I prod.

  Zeke shifts in his seat and looks at me. ‘She knows about you, Tina. She knows she has a sister and that it’s you. She had all those news stories about your father on her computer. She had the stories about the bank job.’

  For a second, I wonder if I can meet her. If I can come out of hiding long enough to let her know that I know about her, too. Zeke senses what I’m thinking and says, ‘You can’t do it. She said a couple of things to me, things I’m not going to tell you, but I can say that it wouldn’t be a good idea to meet her.’

  She doesn’t want anything to do with me. I let that sit a few seconds before I give him a shrug. ‘OK. I’ve lived my whole life without a sister, so it’s not a big deal.’ But as I say it, I know I’m lying to myself. He knows, too.

  To his credit, though, he doesn’t press it. Instead, he straightens back around and starts the car. He presses the accelerator, we shoot forward.

  The side-view mirror tells me that Spencer, who’s been waiting on us, is close on our heels, but something else catches my eye.

  A dark BMW is coming up behind Spencer, gaining ground on us.

  FORTY-SIX

  ‘Um, Zeke,’ I say, indicating the car.