Double Bind (11 page)

           
Sarah turned to scowl at the older man who was grinning from ear to ear.
 
“It is a rare opportunity when I get to take a hacker like
TwinkleBro
on.
 
It was delicious.”
 
He flicked a bit of dirt off one of his fingers.
 
“Next time I’d like him to be there when I do it.
 
I’d love to see the expression on his face.”

           
That was when Sarah saw the insignia on his shirt.
 
He was with the police.
 
He was working with the police, and he was working with Valerie and the others.
 
She could not believe that things were going so poorly.
 
No wonder the police kept missing the bad guys, here they had a professional hacker keeping them away.

           
“Look,” Sarah said, her voice angry.
 
“I don’t know what attack you are planning next, but you won’t get away with it.
 
The police are right on your tail, and when they catch you, it’s you who’s going to be stuck in jail forever.”

           
Valerie and the businessman beside her both laughed.
 
Sarah turned to look at them, trying to mask her confusion.
 
Valerie stepped forward grinning.
 
“Oh
hon
,” she said, running her hand over Sarah’s face.
 
“You think so small.”

           
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked, afraid of what they were going to tell her.

           
“We don’t want to attack anyone,” Valerie said.
 
“We just needed to get you out of the way.”
 
She waved at the big duffel bag and Jared leaned in to unzip it.
 
Inside was an insulated box that probably contained chemicals, but also a huge sheaf of papers and folders wedged in beside it.

           
Jared picked up a few of the papers, riffling them with his other hand.
 
“Do you know what these are?”

           
Sarah didn’t actually have to guess.
 
She recognized them easily enough.
 
After all, she’d been working on them long enough.
 
“They are our formulas.”

           
“That’s right.” Valerie said, leaning in to sneer at her.
 
“When I transferred over for a little corporate espionage I thought it was going to be easy.
 
It usually is.”
 
Her expression shifted to a glare.
 
“Until I met you.
 
I’ve never met anyone so controlling in my life.
 
No matter how close I got to you, I could never get access to the completed formulas.”
 
She gritted her teeth, leaning in menacingly.
 
“I worked for ages trying to just get a glimpse at one single product.”
 
She straightened.
 
“Well, now with you out of the way, it will be easy.”
 
She waved at the duffel bag.
 
“This is just the start.
 
We are going to steal every ounce of progress
BioGen
has ever made.”
 
She grinned at Sarah.
 
“It’s so nice of you to take the fall.”

           
Sarah found her anger waning.
 
She was really starting to get worried.
 
They all seemed so very happy to see her up here.
 
Other than Jared anyway, he seemed at least a little concerned.
 
“But why?”
 
She looked pleadingly at Jared.
 
“You’ve been with the company for forever, why would you take it down.”

           
Jared raised an eyebrow at her.
 
“Do you think I like to grovel at people’s feet?
 
I work like a slave and people treat me like garbage.”
 
He glanced over at the corporate gentleman on the far side, and smiled.
 
“Mr.
Eddison
here has finally acknowledged my value.
 
He has given me a phenomenal offer.”

           
Sarah looked incredulously between the two.
 
“To do what?
 
To destroy their competition?”

           
Mr.
Eddison
leaned forward, shrugging.
 
“Not that you should care, but we are planning to buy out
BioGen
in a year or two.”
 
He smiled.
 
“We just want to lower the price a little.”

           
Sarah stared at him, her mouth working, but no words coming out.
 
She couldn’t believe it.
 
This whole thing was ridiculous.

           
“That’s enough of your little question game though,” he said, brushing his hands off and motioning to the large men to move toward her.
 
“You have unfortunately created a problem that we are now going to have to rid ourselves of.”

           
“What?”
 
Sarah squeaked, as her arms were gripped again in the massive fists of the thugs.

           
Mr.
Eddison
shrugged.
 
“You have worked wonderfully as a fall-man.
 
You have even made yourself look even guiltier than we managed to make you look.”
 
He smiled, then frowned.
 
“But we can’t exactly let you continue your little personal investigation.
 
Especially not considering the information that you have seen here.”

           
Sarah struggled against her captors, but their grip held.
 
She could feel bruises forming on her arms.
 
“Can’t continue.
 
Of course not.
 
I promise to be quiet.
 
I won’t tell anyone.”

           
Valerie and Jared both laughed.
 
Jared shook his head.
 
“You don’t think we would believe you, do you?”

           
“But you’ve got my brother!
 
Why would I risk him?”

           
Jared glanced at Valerie and Mr.
Eddison
, a question clear on his face.
 
The older man shook his head, and he gritted his teeth.
 
“I’m afraid we still can’t trust you.”

           
Sarah swallowed hard.
 
“What are you going to do?
 
You can’t just make me disappear!
 
People will try to find me!”

           
“Of course not.” Valerie said, shrugging.
 
“But no one is going to question when you confess and do yourself in.
 
With the way the evidence is piling up, no one will blame you for giving up.”

           
“What?” Sarah squeaked.
 
“What are you going to do to me?”

           
“Oh, we’re not going to do anything,” Valerie said, slipping a glove over one hand.
 
“You’re going to kill yourself with a kitchen knife.
 
It’s so terribly sad.”
 
She wiped at her dry cheek with her clear hand.
 
“It’s going to be terrible.”

           
Sarah struggled some more.
 
“You can’t do this to me!”

           
Valerie shook her head, her smile growing broader.
 
“Oh
hon
, you have no idea what I can and cannot do.”

           
She motioned, and the two brutes moved Sarah out of the room.
 
Sarah started to yell again, but one of them clamped a cloth over her mouth.
 
She struggled, making noise through the cloth, but not enough.
 
She tried to bite his hand through the cloth, but couldn’t seem to get through the thick fabric.
 
Meanwhile they were dragging her down the stairs and through the factory room.

           
When they opened the door and started to move out into the alleyway, Sarah pretended to be choking.
 
Instead of them lessening their grip, Valerie reached over and smacked Sarah in the back of the head.

           
Sarah was starting to cry.
 
She couldn’t believe that everything had come to this.
 
She was going to be killed, and it wasn’t even her fault.
 
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, wondering if this was going to be the end of her.

Chapter 9

           
Suddenly there was the sound of a police siren, and flashing lights filled the alleyway.
 
Sarah gasped, struggling to see past her captors to the end of the street.
 
There was indeed an undercover car blocking the alley entrance, its lights lighting up the whole alley.
 
She watched as Valerie and the others ducked back into the building, leaving only the two thugs and Sarah out in the open.

           
“Release the girl!” Rob’s familiar voice sounded over a loudspeaker.
 
“This is the police.”

           
The two thugs looked at each other, and then at Sarah.
 
Unfortunately her hope that they would let her go fled almost as soon as it came.
 
Both tightened their grip and backed up toward the building. Sarah was sure that there must be another exit that they were heading for.
 
She struggled, trying to slow them down.

           
“Stop!” Rob called again.
 
“This is the police, you are surrounded.
 
Let go of the girl and put your hands up.”

           
The thugs didn’t even hesitate, but moved back into the building.
 
Too late a single bullet ricocheted off of the brick wall beside the door.
 
But the thugs were already in the building, and Sarah jumped in terror as a spray of brick hit her.
 
She cried out, but the thugs pulled her into the building and shut the door.

           
Sarah was very close to panicking. She was a hostage to people who killed routinely for business.
 
She could hear the others moving through the dark factory, but couldn’t see them.
 
The two thugs continued to drag her after them as they moved deep into the factory.
 
Finally, Sarah realized that they were at the front door.
 
It had been padlocked on the inside, but Clive was easily slipping a key into the lock.
 
She was confused. It had looked boarded up from the outside.

           
Yet, when Clive started to move the door, it moved.
 
Sarah started to panic, when another bullet whizzed through the air to strike the door.
 
“Don’t move!” Rob cried, and Sarah almost broke into tears from relief.
 
He stood in the far doorway, clearly showing his firearm aimed right at them.

           
One of the thugs beside her reached for a holster at his hip, and Sarah shifted enough against the cloth to finally get a word out.
 
“Rob!
 
Move!”

           
The thug jerked her back too fast for her to see if he listened to her, but when she managed to gain her footing again and look back, the door was swinging shut, and Rob was no longer to be seen.
 
She felt relieved.

           
“Did you come alone, detective?” Valerie asked, her voice smooth as silk.
 
Sarah didn’t think it was fair.
 
She shouldn’t be the only one terrified for her life.

           
Rob said nothing, which Sarah thought was wise.
 
But Valerie motioned and one of the thugs let go of her, disappearing into the dark room.
 
Sarah struggled to shout another warning, but Valerie was already speaking.
 
“Now this is truly turning out to be a tragic story.
 
The bold detective goes above and beyond to convict the ruthless bio-terrorist Sarah Gaul, only to be caught in her trap.
 
Sadly, in the ensuing gun-fight, both parties die in a blaze of glory.”