Danger Calls (14 page)

L
ying, meddling bitch.

She knew more about her father's experiments than she was letting on.

The last lab rat was near the end of its life. Its red blood count was well beyond acceptable limits, literally choking all the blood vessels and organs with the imbalance. Destroying the necessary white blood cells and platelets that kept a body running. Soon the hemorrhaging would begin, followed by a slow and likely painful death.

Nothing had stopped the relentless onslaught of the red blood cells, which had been altered by the Danvers cell strain. Yet Danvers himself had been able to control the multiplication of the cells. Well, at least early on.

One set of rats had almost supernatural healing powers and strength beyond that of their uninoculated counterparts. And they'd lived long beyond the span of regular rats and of the rats stolen from Danvers's lab. Rats that Danvers had likely been using as control samples.

A step was missing—the process Danvers had used to maintain the superrat specimens. Whatever it was had not been revealed in the journal stolen from Danvers's lab nor in the incredibly boring memoir taken from Melissa's office.

Judging from her unconvincing act this afternoon, Melissa was well aware that she had important information about her father's experiments and the source of the cell strain.

There would be no more waiting now. No time to dawdle. Otherwise, the illness would be too far along to allow for a possible cure. The Danvers cell strain could only do so much and maybe there had been too much delay already.

Action had to be taken immediately.

 

“The toxicology reports on both the overdose victims confirms that it was heroin, but synthetic and very potent. Very designer.” Diana paced back and forth in the kitchen, obviously unnerved by her earlier visit to the morgue.

“How designer?” Ryder asked.

“M.E. wouldn't put it in writing, but as far as he's concerned, this heroin wasn't designed to be sold on the street. It was intended to kill. There's only a handful of black ops organizations who'd do that,” she answered.

“Like the NSA?” Sebastian asked, raising one eyebrow to emphasize his point.

Diana shrugged. “Possibly. Could be a rogue, as well.”

Melissa finally piped in. “It seems careless to get rid of two people so close together both in time and location. It was bound to raise suspicions.”

“If Peter hadn't asked around, no one would have looked for another body. The first case was in Westchester and not within the NYPD's jurisdiction,” Diana explained.

Melissa shot Sebastian an uneasy look. “So does this help us at all?”

Diana's full lips thinned into a tight line and she let out an exasperated sigh. “There's no other forensics to tie the murders together. Although the tox reports should be enough. The only other thing—Sloan worked for the NSA from sometime in 1999 to September of 2003.”

Ryder leaned forward. “That's just one month before Melissa's parents were killed.”

“Too close for coincidence,” Sebastian said with a nod.

“But we have nothing from Forensics for probable cause—”

“Which means what? That we sit around and wait for another body to turn up? Maybe one of us?” Melissa asked angrily. She strode to the kitchen island, where she gripped the edges of the counter tightly. Her shoulders rose as she took in a deep breath.

“We have to do something. We can't just wait for something else to happen.”

Sebastian watched as Diana walked over to Melissa and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I've asked Peter to go out on a limb for me—He's agreed to put a tail on Sloan. See what he's up to and where he goes.”

“If Sloan finds out he's being tailed—” Ryder said.

“Your detective friend could be in a lot of trouble. Sloan's a respected department head at one of New York's premier hospitals and if he's the killer…” Sebastian's voice trailed off.

“But it's all we have right now, isn't it?” Melissa said sharply. “And it's not much.” Dejection colored her tones, and Sebastian could understand why. Her parents and two others were dead and she was still not remotely close to finding out whether Sloan was responsible.

“We'll have something soon.” Ryder glanced at Diana, who added, “I have someone trying to get more information on Sloan. It may take just a little more time.”

A little more time being a luxury Sebastian didn't think they had.

 

Sebastian gripped the metal railing of the balcony, his knuckles white. He had a hell of a choice to make—betray his sister or fail the woman who was coming to mean so much to him.

A soft footfall from behind alerted him that he was no longer alone.

“Sebastian?” Melissa asked, her voice low and hesitant.

“This is not a good time, Melissa.” Definitely not a good time, he thought. His father would have expected him to crawl away and hide when faced with a tough decision. Maybe his father had been right to say that Sebastian's games and computers were an escape from the harsh realities of life. In his games, Sebastian could control everything and always make it end the way he wanted.

But this wasn't a game. It was real life and no matter what he decided, nothing would ever be right again.

“I just wanted to say…” There was a long and tremulous sigh as she paused.

Sebastian turned to face her. He had no doubt she was as troubled as he. The strain showed on her face, paler than usual. Her blue eyes were that stormy gray of turbulence. “What can you say that will make whatever I decide right?”

She flinched, almost as if he had struck her. “I just wanted to say that no matter what you decide, I will understand.”

Sebastian looked away and expelled a harsh laugh. In his entire life, no one had ever understood. Not his mother. Definitely not his father. And as for the sister he loved and admired almost more than anyone else—she would never understand.

“If I say no—”

She took a step closer and laid the tips of her fingers on his lips. “We'll find some other way of getting the information about Sloan.”

He examined her face, searching it carefully but could find nothing that contradicted what she was saying. Her understanding brought a mixture of relief and sorrow. The one person who seemingly could accept what he did, he might have to disillusion.

“What if we can't? What then?”

She shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe we can draw him out somehow.”

“No way, no how. If Sloan's the man, he's killed at least twice. If Diana confirms that these other two deaths are related, there's no way I'm willing to let you take that risk.”

“I'm a big girl, Sebastian. I can deal.”

Laughing curtly, he said, “You can deal with a multiple murderer? He's one of the men in black. The bogeymen that make people go away without anyone knowing about it.” He emphasized that point by moving his hands like a magician doing a trick.

“I have Ryder to watch my back, and you.”

He realized she was totally serious. She had unquestioned faith in him. Which scared the shit out of him.

Closing the distance between them, he embraced her tightly, but what could he say?

“Will you stay tonight?” she asked, the side of her face buried against the spot directly above his heart.

Did she hear the way the beat stopped, then started once more, faster than before? Did she know that with those few words, she had made him hers?

“Yes,” he answered.

She stepped away from him. She was smiling broadly and her eyes had turned a rich blue with bits of aquamarine. Her happy eyes. He took her hand when she offered it and followed her into the apartment.

S
ebastian doubted there was anything better in life than sleeping in late with a beautiful woman. Possibly the night they had spent together. Being with Melissa had been an amazing experience.

But last night had been about more.

After leaving the balcony, they'd gone to her room where she'd locked the door and slowly undressed him. When he would have done the same for her, she said, “Not this time. This time, I want the pleasure to be all yours.”

She explored his body and found those spots that made him shake. Brought him to the edge with her lips and hands, taking him into her mouth and making him so hard it almost hurt.

The pleasure that had followed had been even better. She'd undressed for him, urged him on with her soft cries and the words of love she murmured as they came together.

Afterward, he'd held her and they'd fallen asleep, but during the night they'd roused, made love again. He'd been able to see the first streaks of sun coming through the window that faced the East River. He'd forced himself to get some rest then, knowing that they only had a few more hours to sleep.

He'd have to call a friend to help him crack the NSA as soon as they were out of bed. He only hoped what information he got would be worth Diana's justifiable wrath. She'd made her position quite clear.

Unfortunately, he had no choice but to ignore it.

 

“Where are we going?” Melissa asked as she glanced around at the run-down buildings that lined the cobblestoned street on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

“To see a friend,” was all Sebastian said until they reached one multicolored and partially rusted steel door in what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. Then he cupped her cheek and said, “Just go with the flow. He's a little odd. Thinks he's unearthed some kind of conspiracy and that the government is out to get him.”

Sebastian banged on the door's dented metal surface. There was a sudden crackle of noise and a tinny voice spewed from a weather-scarred intercom on the inside frame of the door. “Reyes. What are you doing bringing a narc with you?”

Sebastian glanced over his shoulder at her and rolled his eyes. Turning back to the door, he pulled his black leather duster tight around him. “She's not a narc. She's a friend. Are you going to open the door or are you going to let the Feds keep on snapping my picture while I freeze my ass off out here?”

The door opened, but just enough for her and Sebastian to ease through. It was dark inside and before her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, the door slammed behind her, followed by the snick of multiple locks closing.

Someone stepped away from the door and stood before them. Short and stout, with thin, shoulder-length hair that could have been either dirty blond or light brown. It was so lank with grease that it would take a washing or two to determine its true color. His eyes were a bright hazel and inquisitive. He scrutinized everything about her until he finally addressed Sebastian. “She's uptight, but a true believer. Hot. Is she yours?”

She figured his analysis could have been worse, and yet his attitude annoyed her. “No one owns me, little man.”

“Spunk, too. You're a lucky man, Reyes,” he said, as if she wasn't even standing there.

About to say something else, she stopped when Sebastian slipped his arm around her waist and squeezed gently, reminding her that they needed this little gnome's assistance. She kept quiet.

“Lenny, I need to get into the NSA,” Sebastian said.

“Dude! Why not ask for the keys to Fort Knox.” The man paced in front of them as he rambled out loud. “That's a tough one, but we can do it. We'll have to use the multihomed unit with the spoofed addresses. Relay through a bunch of different other PCs that I've cracked, also spoofed. Can't stay on too long.”

“Understood.”

Melissa was glad he understood because she was totally lost in the technobabble. Not to mention immensely grateful that Sebastian had graduated from the school of personal hygiene, unlike his little friend.

“Let's have at it, then.” Lenny motioned for Sebastian to follow him.

Melissa trailed behind the two men, passing shelves filled with what looked like cast-off computer equipment and miles of assorted cables and wires. It was dark, forcing her to stay close to Sebastian to avoid getting lost in what she could only describe as a warren.

Toward the back of the maze of shelves and equipment, there was finally an opening and some light. Four tables sat in the midst of the clearing, each bearing at least two or three monitors and a few printers.

Multicolored cables trailed from the equipment down to the ground where a number of computers rested. Little green and yellow-orange lights blinked on each of the machines, and at every monitor there was a different kind of activity going on.

The two men went to one table and Sebastian motioned for her to take a seat. She found what was left of a disreputable-looking black leather executive chair. It was a little lopsided and dull yellow foam rubber peeked out of holes in the leather. She wheeled the chair over and sat on it daintily, not trusting it to remain upright. She leaned forward and watched what the two men were doing.

Seeing that Melissa was settled comfortably, Sebastian twined his fingers together, then flexed them. To make sure he was in sync with his friend, he asked, “We get to their site. Do a port scan followed by—”

“That might not be necessary.” Lenny peered around the dark room, as if to make sure no one could see him. He then pulled a small black binder from amongst a slew of computer manuals and papers located between the two computers. He opened the binder, flipped about halfway through and motioned to the printed results on the paper. “Here's the server address, open ports and some user names.” With a shrug, he continued, “Got bored one night.”

Clapping him on the back, Sebastian said, “Len, you should get a life, but then again, you just made mine a hell of a lot easier.”

Sebastian wondered if Melissa should remain. He was sure that would make her a conspirator somehow, but as his gaze met hers, he detected the determined glint of steel there and knew better than to ask her to leave.

Typing in the address, he made his way through one of the open ports to a log-in screen. He picked one of the names on the list that didn't have a check next to it, assuming the others had already been used by Len. “Do you prefer CAIN or Cracker Jack?”

“Neither, man. Got my own little password cracker.” Len motioned to the one icon titled Cheese on the PC Sebastian was using. “Get it? Crackers and cheese,” Len said with a little snort and a phlegmy laugh.

“Lame, Len. You definitely need to get out more.” Sebastian executed the program, which quickly began running through the millions of possible password permutations. Len kept time on his watch while also monitoring the relays he had set up. Still waiting for the program, Sebastian shot a glance at Melissa, who now sat anxiously on the edge of her chair.

“Remember, the clock is ticking. If we're not getting a result in the next minute or so—”

“We'll abort and try with the next user.” Sebastian kept a close eye on his own watch as seconds turned to minutes. He was about to abort the program when the dialogue box on the screen indicated he was being logged on.

“Don't waste time. In and out fast,” Len reminded him. Sebastian double-clicked the icon for what appeared to be a database. The opening window confirmed that it was, but the program was password protected again. First he tried the one for the network log-in. When that failed, he once again executed Len's Cheese program. He kept an eye on his watch, knowing time was growing short.

When Len motioned for him to disconnect, he aborted the session. “No,” he muttered under his breath, but before moving on to the next user name, he and Len changed the IP addresses on his computer and Sebastian studied the network passwords.

At first, it seemed like a random pattern of numbers and characters, but soon he thought he detected some kind of order in the first few characters. He narrowed down what he needed to know to the last four characters.

He accessed the remote computer again and plugged the first characters into the password cracker program. It took a fraction of the time to log on to the network. Once he was there, he searched out some files on the local drive and hit pay dirt in a file for one of the mail programs. Despite warnings, users often used the same password for various programs. Hopefully, this user had done just that and kept the same password across all his connections.

Entry into the database was almost instantaneous, confirming Sebastian's suspicions about the password, but that didn't stop Len from warning him again. “Find whatever it is that you need and find it fast.”

Sebastian worked the keys like a concert pianist, locating the database table that held information on NSA operatives. Again there was another password and he cursed beneath his breath.

“Problem?” Melissa asked, but he ignored her, wishing that the user of this password had high enough security clearance, but he didn't.

Again he logged off, frustrated with his failure.

“Maybe we should just wait—”

“Third time's the charm.” He examined the list of user names and properties that Len had obtained. There were a few administrators, typical of an organization of this size. And there were a couple of users with higher network security than others. One of those higher security users might also have sufficient clearance for the database.

The third time was a charm as he logged in and accessed the operatives database. He entered the password and held his breath. A second later, a search screen came up.

After typing in Sloan's name, he executed the search and got to the first entry in the file. Rather than waste time, or risk that a download would be detected, he copied the text from each screen and pasted it into a file saved on Len's PC. He was near the end of the history screen when Len said, “Time to end it.”

The links on the database form indicated there were still a number of other screens, but Sloan's status and history were primary and he already had most of that. Another thirty seconds and he'd finished with the screens he wanted and terminated his session.

Leaning back in his chair, he breathed a sigh of relief and tried to control the shaking of his hands.

“You okay? You look a little flushed.” Melissa inched closer and laid a hand on his cheek. Her hand felt cool and dry. He finally realized he was damp with sweat.

“Just an adrenaline rush.” Glancing expectantly at Len, he asked, “Any problems?”

Len examined his monitor and typed in a few commands. When he turned to look at them, he had a broad but gap-toothed smile on his face. “Clean. Didn't detect anyone trying to trace the address back.”

“Cool.” Sebastian printed the information he had saved. For good measure, he copied the file on to a thumb disk he'd brought along and deleted the file from both the hard drive and the recycle bin. Motioning to the PC, he said, “You'll do a better cleaning later, right?”

Len nodded his head emphatically. “You bet. Can't risk anyone finding it.”

“Thank you, Len,” Melissa said and gave the man an impromptu hug. Sebastian chuckled when Len blushed a rather blotchy shade of red.

“Maybe you'll visit again?” Lenny asked, almost hopefully.

Sebastian clapped his friend on the back and said, “Why don't we take you to dinner once this is all done. In a few weeks?”

Len nodded eagerly and led them to the door where he undid the numerous locks. Glancing out the peephole, seemingly to satisfy himself that there was no one there, he eased the door open a crack. Melissa and Sebastian slipped out and onto the street.

Once the door slammed closed behind them and the multiple locks clicked into place, Melissa turned to him. There was sorrow on her face. “I feel bad for him.”

Sebastian cupped her cheek. “Not everyone is lucky enough to find someone to share their lives with.”

The dismay in her eyes instantly vanished, replaced by contentment. “No, they're not.” She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe when this is all over, we should invite him over.”

Something swelled in his chest. It might have been his heart expanding like the Grinch's. She was thinking there was a them beyond whatever was happening. A them that could be normal.

“That would be great.”