Seconds to Live

by Susan Sleeman

  He opened her door, and Mack swung the other vehicle into the adjoining space. She wasn’t eager to see her office trashed and so took her time exiting, but gave a nod of thanks to Sean for his consideration. Of course, that made him smile. She wasn’t quite ready to let go of her frustration just yet and had to look away.

  Mack came up beside her, his hands shoved in his black jacket pockets with a C3 logo on the chest. He wore tactical clothing matching Sean’s, except she didn’t find it all that interesting on Mack.

  He patted her shoulder, and he smelled like the mints he offered to others. People rarely took one. Not surprising. They were strong enough to make your eyes water. Knowing his stubborn nature, that was why he’d chosen this particular brand. “If it’s as bad as we’re all imagining it to be, just say the word and we can come out to grab some fresh air.”

  She smiled her thanks and caught a scowl on Sean’s face.

  How could he not see what a good friend Mack was, and in turn a great guy? If she managed nothing else while with Sean, she hoped she could convince him of that.

  In the elevator, Mack held out his tin of mints, and the others shook their heads. “Suit yourself.” He popped one into his mouth.

  “Seriously, man, how do you even stand those?” Sean faked a shudder, but then his expression turned serious. “Remember, no one but Inman is read-in on the hack. And he doesn’t know about the connection we just discovered to this office. If I decide he needs to know, I’ll be the one to tell him.”

  Taylor didn’t like the thought of her boss having to hear that one of his team members had betrayed them. “Might be easier for him to hear it from me.”

  “Maybe. We’ll play it by ear.”

  Sean said maybe, but it was obvious he wanted to be the one to inform Inman. Perhaps it was better that way. She really didn’t want to have a deputy’s betrayal associated with her, but if it turned out she could better break the news, then she’d do her job.

  “Promise me you won’t try to bully or upset him,” she said to Sean.

  “Me?” He honestly looked surprised.

  “Um, Sean.” Kiley shrugged out of a leather jacket, revealing a soft ivory blouse that emphasized her dark complexion. “I’m with Taylor on this one. When your focus is set on the end result, you can be a force to be reckoned with.”

  Sean looked like he thought they were ganging up on him. “Sometimes you have to be.”

  “Not with Inman, though, right?” Taylor asked.

  “Sure, okay,” he said, but sounded reluctant. “I promise to go easy on Inman.”

  His hesitancy gave her pause, so when the elevator doors opened, she hung back for a moment. But when the entire team stared at her, she got moving and spotted her friend Roger Glover standing outside the door. Just under six feet tall, he had flaming red hair, freckles, and muscles on muscles from working out to keep in shape for his role in fugitive apprehension. He wore khaki tactical pants and a fugitive task force T-shirt.

  Taylor didn’t participate in investigations often—like hardly ever—but at the Marshals’ Training Academy she’d learned basic police work during the required ten weeks in criminal investigators’ school. From that, she knew Roger was serving as the officer of record. His job was to document the people who were present at the crime scene before the investigation began and add everyone who came and went from the scene after that. A boring task, especially when he usually spent his days hunting down criminals.

  She approached him. “How’d you get this job?”

  “Just lucky I guess.” He rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Inman arrived first and discovered the break-in. He kept everyone out of the office, so we hung out here until he came out. He ordered me to grab a box of booties and gloves from my car, then shoved the clipboard at me. He sent the others home and called you in.”

  Taylor nodded her understanding. “You’re still on the schedule for Dustee’s protection detail tonight, right? I don’t trust her with just anyone.”

  “If this goes long enough, Chief will replace me.” He looked past her at the others. “He didn’t mention that you’d be bringing your whole posse.”

  “He doesn’t know.”

  “Not sure everyone’s welcome at our dance.” Roger’s forehead wrinkled, but she didn’t try to argue with him as he could very well be right. He handed her a box of gloves. “Go ahead, glove up and put booties on while I confirm with Chief that they’re allowed on-scene.”

  Sean pulled a pair of gloves from the box. “You two seem friendly. You never mentioned that you were close.”

  “Our desks are next to each other,” she said. “He’s a great guy and has an amazing family. And as an extra bonus, when I have a craving for a home-cooked meal, his wife, Naomi, invites me over.”

  “Can’t complain about that.” He snapped on a glove.

  She kept looking for an ulterior motive in his expression, but it seemed like he was trying to make up for his earlier behavior. Why then was she still upset with him? She’d have done the same thing if she were in his shoes. Law enforcement officers frequently had to be tenacious and aggressive. It was often what made them good at their jobs, and Sean was no exception.

  Roger returned, Chief Inman trailing behind. Short but fit, he looked crisp in his black suit and white shirt. His expression was taxed and irritated, so Taylor quickly introduced everyone to move them along.

  Inman ran a practiced gaze over the group before letting it land on Taylor. “I’m not sure what you hope to achieve by bringing the whole team here.”

  “A fresh perspective,” she replied, quoting Sean. She couldn’t very well admit he’d bullied his way into bringing everyone along.

  “And Dustee?”

  “She’s safe and sound at the FBI office with Cam babysitting her.”

  Sean stepped closer. “Odds are good that your break-in is related to our investigation, and as such we’d like to take a look.”

  “With your influence, I’m sure you could have my supervisor on the phone in quick order, telling me to comply.” Inman ended with a sharp look at Taylor. “No point in saying no and wasting everyone’s time. Sign in and make sure you stay out of the way.” Inman spun and went back inside.

  Roger held out the clipboard. “He’s not happy, and you are so going to hear about this later. In private.”

  Taylor knew Roger was right. “Hopefully it won’t include a reprimand.”

  “You really think that’s going to happen?” Sean asked. “Because if you do, I can—”

  She held up her hand. “Save it. The kind of help you can provide will involve higher-ups, and that would only get me in more trouble.”

  Sean signed in, and as the others followed suit, he studied the card reader dangling on the wall and the shattered glass entry door. “Hey, Glover,” he said. “You have a monitored security system, correct?”

  “We do, yes.”

  “And did the alarm go off?”

  Glover shook his head. “Whoever did this knew how to disable the system before the alarm sounded.”

  Sean met Glover’s gaze. “Or they had card access.”

  “You think one of us did this?” Glover shook his head, his expression turning to granite. “You’re way off base here, man. That’s not possible.”

  Taylor opened her mouth, likely to mention their recent discovery of the hack originating from here. That was privileged information, and Sean couldn’t have her tell anyone. Not even a trusted deputy and friend. He gave her a quick shake of his head. She caught on and closed her mouth.

  “Has anyone contacted the security company, or were the intruders caught on video?” Sean asked Glover.

  “I’m not sure on either point,” Glover replied. “I do know that Inman has our tech person inside. The server room was broken into, and video files were erased. We may never know what happened.”

  Kiley stepped up to sign in. “Erased doesn’t mean gone.”

  “Beg your pardon?” Glover asked.

&n
bsp; She scribbled her name. “First, there should be off-site backup. Either in the cloud or a tape drive stored off-site.”

  “I wonder if Hershel does that.” Glover looked at Taylor.

  She shrugged. “If it’s standard protocol, I’m sure he does.”

  Kiley held out the clipboard. “Even if something happened to the backup, odds are good we can recover the files if they haven’t been overwritten.”

  “You can do that?” Glover took the clipboard and passed it to Mack.

  “Usually,” Sean said. “But something tells me that the person who deleted these files knew enough to overwrite them.”

  “Still, if they weren’t thorough, we may be able to find something.” Mack clicked the tip of the pen absently as he looked at the form. “Unless they used a degausser to eliminate the drive’s magnetic field.”

  “A degausser?” Glover asked.

  “A large magnet passed over the hard drive.”

  “We need to talk to Inman about this,” Taylor said. “Maybe he’ll be glad I brought you with me after all.”

  “Let’s find out.” Sean gestured to the door.

  She entered the office, and he followed close behind.

  Glass crunched underfoot as she passed through the reception area, which remained untouched. Just inside the door, she came to a sudden stop, and Sean nearly plowed into her. She did a one-eighty, taking in the destruction. Her eyes landed on him, and the haunted look shot a flash of anger through his body. He knew that look. He’d seen it hundreds of times in victims’ expressions. She felt violated, and a place that once had felt safe to her now felt out of control and dangerous.

  It was one thing to see this anxiety in a stranger’s face, but in the eyes of someone he cared for? A woman who’d been there for him through thick and thin for months. On his side and in his corner, and now, finding her way into his heart. That was another thing altogether.

  “It’s . . . I can’t even . . .” The words came out in a fragile whisper. Way too fragile for this very strong woman.

  Anger took full hold, and Sean’s hands fairly vibrated with it. He was torn between punching something and hugging her close.

  He’d experienced anger this intense only once. A year ago with his father when Sean shared his mother’s lie. All his life she’d told him that his father wanted nothing to do with him, when in fact his dad had fought to be a part of Sean’s life. He couldn’t bear to see his dad’s pain that day, and couldn’t bear Taylor’s now.

  He moved closer to her. Instead of holding her hand and embarrassing her in front of her boss and the forensic staff, he touched the side of his hand against hers to let her know he was there for her. He didn’t care if his teammates noticed, and notice they would. What he did care about was how Taylor was feeling and the deep scars this would leave.

  She looked up at him, an excess of emotions warring to take hold in her expression, and she eased closer to him.

  “We can turn right around and leave if you want,” he said quietly. “No one will think less of you. Especially not me.”

  “I will, though.” She took a deep breath, and in her eyes he could see her struggle with what she should do. “Marshals haven’t backed down since the service was formed in 1789, and I won’t either. Even when horrible things like this come too close to home.”

  He admired her spirit, one that her fellow deputies held, often pointing out that the Marshals Service was the very first law enforcement agency in the country. Still, he didn’t move his hand, didn’t walk away. Because as much as she was trying to sound strong, her body language said that she was still troubled.

  “That’s my desk.” She pointed to the one on the far left. Every item had been tossed onto the floor, the desk tipped over, while the other desks in the space were still upright, and many of their items remained in place.

  “I’m sorry, Taylor. I know this must feel like a terrible violation.”

  She nodded, her face still pale and pinched. “I should get to it.”

  The best thing for her now was to take action to right this situation, but as much as he cared for her, he couldn’t let her do it. “You said Inman wants you to look through your things, but I’d like to talk to him before you touch anything.”

  She offered him a tight-lipped smile. “This is really throwing me for a loop, and I appreciate your taking charge.”

  “It’s the least I can do after getting you in trouble with your boss.” He grinned in an effort to lighten the mood.

  Her smile still trembled but widened. Feeling she was on the upswing, he turned to his team to get them moving. “Mack, I want you on the security system. Evaluate its complexity and the skills needed to disarm it. Kiley, find their tech guy and the server room to do an assessment on those deleted files. And I want an image taken of Taylor’s hard drive so we can look at it back at the office.”

  “Our tech guy is talking to Inman. Come on. I’ll introduce you.” Taylor led them through files strewn on the floor and commingled with office supplies to her boss, who was talking with a skinny guy sporting a man bun, goatee, and black glasses.

  “Sorry to interrupt, Chief,” she said, sounding apprehensive, “but the RED team would like to offer their help in recovering the deleted video files.”

  Inman’s eyebrow rose, probably questioning how they knew about the deleted files. “We were just discussing that, and Hershel tells me there’s no hope. They’ve been overwritten.”

  “All of them?” Kiley asked.

  Hershel scratched his goatee. “Preliminary look says yes, but I need to dig deeper.”

  “Mind if I sit with you while you do?” Kiley asked.

  Hershel eyed her suspiciously. “If Chief approves it, I have no choice.”

  “It’s fine,” Inman said.

  Hershel frowned, raising Sean’s radar. It wasn’t unusual for other agencies to resent the RED team’s interference and have an attitude, but Hershel’s response could also mean he had something to hide. As IT support, he would have access to the database, and he possessed the best computer skills in the office.

  Sean looked at Kiley and silently communicated to be watchful of Hershel.

  She gave the barest of nods, then changed her focus to Hershel. “We also wondered if you’ve had a chance to image Taylor’s computer. If not, I can help with that.”

  “I wasn’t even planning on it.” Hershel crossed his arms. “Is there something you know that I don’t?”

  “Hershel, why don’t you go on back,” Inman suggested. “And these guys will catch up with you in a minute.”

  Hershel eyed Kiley one more time before tiptoeing through the mess, heading for the back of the office.

  “Not having been read in on the hack, Hershel believes this to be a routine break-in.” Inman turned to Sean. “And it doesn’t look like the WITSEC computer was accessed, so it might very well be just that.”

  “Did Hershel tell you it wasn’t accessed?” Kiley asked.

  Inman nodded.

  Kiley looked at Sean. “Want me to confirm that?”

  “Please,” Sean said.

  “Wait.” Inman’s head jerked back. “You suspect one of my people of doing this?”

  Sean couldn’t have asked for a better opening to tell the chief about the breach. “You should know that this morning we tracked an unauthorized software update made to the database back to your office.”

  Sean waited for Inman to respond, something along the lines of Taylor’s denial when she’d first heard the news. But Inman didn’t move. Just stood staring ahead. “I’m guessing there’s irrefutable proof of this or you wouldn’t be mentioning it to me.”

  “There is.”

  Inman planted his feet wide, looking like a pit bull. “And now you think my staff is involved. Or maybe even me.”

  Sean nodded. “Your lack of reaction to my bombshell worries me. As does your defensive posture.”

  “You expected what?” He lifted his chin. “That I’d break down? May
be shout. Declare my innocence. That wouldn’t be good for my staff or the forensic techs on-scene.”

  Sean had to respect the guy. Here he was dealt a shocking blow, and he still thought of those he supervised. Sean could take a lesson from the man, but that wouldn’t stop him from doing his job. “I’ve run into a number of supervisors in the past who tried to cover up employee wrongdoing, and I don’t want to put you in a position where your actions might be called into question.”

  “With a smooth answer like that, you should go into politics.” Inman shoved his hands into the pockets of his dress slacks. “I can see the value in accepting your help in this investigation. Let’s just be sure you keep this breach to yourselves.”

  “No worries, sir. With our clearance level, we’re experienced at keeping things quiet.” Sean tried hard not to sound like he was rubbing their higher clearance in Inman’s face. “If video files have in fact been deleted, I have to think that the person who hacked the database wanted to hide his access to the computer. So, as of this moment, we’ll be taking over this investigation.”

  Taylor gasped, but Sean couldn’t look at her. Not when he felt like he was betraying her trust, and he hated doing so. She brought him to the office of her own accord, and then here he was taking over. Sean would rather not do so, but after learning about the deleted videos, he had no choice. If he left the Marshals in charge, and there truly was a bad apple on their team, critical evidence could be destroyed.

  And then Sean might never find the person who trashed this place and put that terrified look on Taylor’s face. His gut screamed with the need to hunt him down and make him pay for what he did. So Sean would soldier on, no matter the collateral damage. “I can run this up the flagpole for official permission if you insist, but it would be easier if we came to an agreement right now.”

  Inman worked the muscles in his jaw but remained calm, at least outwardly. Sean had to give the man credit. “I know arguing is futile. What do you want from me?”