Flash Point (12 page)

The system would never flag the over two hundred files, because by all appearances an approved tech analyst had retrieved them.

Only he hadn't. Irv knew he hadn't because the scan claimed the dates the files had been accessed was two years from tomorrow, in the future.

Someone covering their tracks?

‘Son of a bitch,' Irv muttered, his keystrokes fast, but not as fast as he wished they could be. ‘Who the hell are you, and what do you want?'

He sent the onscreen results to his printer, then canceled the routine scan. A few command lines later, and a new scan began, this time specifically filtered to show only files from the fictitious future date.

‘Oh, you've messed with the wrong … you're going to wish— You asshole, how the hell did you …'

Fuming, he grabbed the stack of pages from the printer and thumbed through as the new list populated. So far, nothing new. Same file names, same directory, same login info. He reached the final page as the scan completed, then stopped short. There on the screen, one lonely line of text shone in black and white – a text file that didn't have a match on his printout because it was in a directory so many cyber miles away from all the others, it would have taken his original scan hours to turn up.

‘What have we here …' he muttered, opening the rogue file.

A thoroughly ordinary, boring error log stared back at him, the kind applications automatically created anytime they encountered a problem, so techs or developers could troubleshoot them if needed. At first glance, all the listings appeared normal. Irv narrowed his eyes. Something was weird about this. The hacker couldn't possibly have had anything to gain out of this file, and he clearly didn't need anything out of the rest of the directory. That left only one reason to access it: to leave something behind. He searched more closely, reading each line carefully.

He lingered on one of the most recent listings and its error message:

THIS IS AN INFORMATIONAL MESSAGE ONLY. NO ADDITIONAL USER ACTION IS REQUIRED DUE TO RULES 2-33.

‘Error number fifteen,' he read the rest of the line aloud. ‘Error type 0B03 … source, home call prompt core info double limb false-dot-php …'

A crazy realization struck him. No fucking way.

‘You son of a bitch,' he said again, this time with a different feeling entirely. ‘What the hell? Why?'

His rage now converted to energy, Irv resumed typing, beginning the process of tracing every single step the uninvited guest had taken. The thirst for vengeance was gone. Right now he just needed answers. Every damn one of them.

From the raised voices behind the door, Jenna didn't need to be inside the conference room to know Grey was already making quite a name for herself.

And the name is nuisance.

‘I'll give you that Wing Man UNSUB following around the Blunt Force UNSUB is probably Mr Watson,' Porter argued.

‘And you're right. You could probably tell us more about what traits and mannerisms the pair here that apparently call themselves Watson and Holmes share with the fictional characters if the images of them on the video were enhanced. But since Irv can only run the software on one UNSUB's image at a time, we have to wait for the one he's already running on Slender to finish before requesting the new one. In the meantime, just take a seat and let us do our jobs. When we reach something we need you to consult on, we'll bring it to you.'

Nice try, but Grey Hechinger wasn't just going to get comfortable and read quietly in the corner until you needed her. Now that they'd caught Grey's interest, they had it.

I'll rescue you today, Porter, but you owe me one.

‘Grey, I brought a notebook for you,' Jenna said, pulling out one of the conference table chairs and setting the legal pad on the table in front of it. She pulled the black ink pen from her pocket and set it on top. ‘I need you to write down any instances on here you can think of where Sherlock Holmes is in a bank, investigating a bank, or maybe even is on a case that involves something similar to a bank: any place that stores valuables for the public, high dollar things. Especially any crimes related to those sorts of places that look like heists but then didn't end up being robberies at all. After you get that list, think about those storylines and note anything in those particular stories that might be controversial. Social issues, race issues. Political or religious scandals, maybe. Would you start that for me?'

‘For the record, I totally could've handled that,' Porter said as they walked a few steps away from the table to a quiet corner closer to the video screen where they could talk out of Grey's earshot.

‘I'm sure you could've gagged her,' Jenna joked. ‘But this way she feels like she's working on the case using the skills that caused us to bring her here in the first place. It's more likely to keep her out of your hair indefinitely. Plus, there's the added bonus of the small chance it
could
actually yield something relevant.'

Porter narrowed his eyes comically. ‘Hey, I said I could handle it. I didn't say I'd handle it
well
.'

Jenna laughed, returned to the video footage from the bank. She took a sip of her dark roast, her gaze catching the third figure to enter the bank. The Long-Sword UNSUB.

Metallic gold flashed in.

Jenna nudged Porter with her elbow, pointed at Long-Sword UNSUB. ‘What about this guy? He came up when we were trying to figure out what he and Machete UNSUB were doing when they went off-screen, but we haven't really scrutinized some of the more obvious things that could go toward his profile.'

Porter gave her a sidelong glance, raised his eyebrows. ‘Such as?'

‘Well, he's the only one killing people with a sword that looks like it could've walked out of a history museum,' Jenna said, leaning forward and squinting, trying to make out any detailing that might be carved into the blade or its hilt.

‘True. And if this crew wasn't made up of a bunch of knife maniacs stabbing people with exploding diving blades and machetes, I'd say the weirdo would catch my eye,' Porter said, ‘But in this case, the only thing that might stand out would be, I don't know, a nice, regular M16.'

‘Or maybe a chainsaw,' Teva said as she joined them at the projector.

‘Don't give 'em any ideas. Kung Pow UNSUB with the butterfly swords left enough stray body parts in there to bring up my last seventeen meals. I'd hate to see a chainsaw in that mix,' Porter said.

Jenna's eyes found the perp Porter had called Kung Pow UNSUB. On the screen, the figure swung her blades deftly, gracefully, their slices wicked and effective.

Metallic gold flashed in again. The same color as a few moments before while watching Long-Sword UNSUB fight.

‘Maybe you're on to something there,' she mumbled, holding the metallic gold in her mind as she glanced from the Long-Sword UNSUB to Kung Pow and back again.

‘I know I am!' Porter laughed. ‘Less dismemberment equals fewer second appearances made by pancakes. I didn't realize this was a concept that
needed
further investigation …'

Jenna rolled her eyes, but she focused back in on the same two UNSUBs. ‘I'm not talking about your throw-up jokes, Gilbert Godfrey. I'm talking about Kung Pow and the butterfly swords. At first glance none of these UNSUBs stands out; they're all different and brutal. But actually, Kung Pow stands out for a few reasons—'

‘Kung Pow UNSUB is a double-wielder,' Teva filled in.

‘Yep. Two blades aren't practical in a fight for most. Might even be a hindrance for an amateur,' Jenna said. ‘But for Kung Pow, they aren't. Which made me realize why
he
'—she paused, put her pointer finger on Long-Sword UNSUB on the screen—‘stood out in
my
mind. The same metallic gold flashed in twice while watching this video: when I watch Long-Sword and when I watch Kung Pow.'

‘The colors,' Teva said quietly, her tone half awe, half annoyed.

‘Again,' Porter said with a sigh. Full-on annoyed.

‘You know me. Always gotta show off,' Jenna said.
I
do
so enjoy explaining how the brain phenomenon I was put on this team to use connects things to colors in my mind only to see faces staring back at me so blank they look like they're trying to process every concept in Stephen Hawking's
A Brief History of Time
at once. And yet, despite getting the same reaction every time, instead of simply accepting the leg up my color associations give us, you still insist on conducting these little Synesthesia for Dummies seminars any time the colors come up, followed by a tribunal to determine whether or not the color association should be trusted as evidence in the investigation.
‘You want to hear it or not?'

‘Of course,' Teva said.

‘The metallic gold I see when I watch both of them fight I associate with skill. Skill that comes from training. Those two aren't amateurs. They know how to fight, and not just because they knew this day was coming. These two were recruited for this job
because
of their skills,' Jenna said.

Saleda had joined them and nodded, whipping out her phone and texting. ‘I'll get Irv on local martial arts centers, particularly members or students in them who might belong to hate groups or have police records.'

‘Good. And don't forget the local colleges. Check for martial arts clubs, fencing clubs, anything of that nature. Cross-reference those students with any who might be history or literature majors or have involvement with campus organizations with literary ties or book clubs,' Jenna added. ‘While we work on that, though, I think Grey can put down her catalog of Sherlock bank novels. I've got a real job for her now.'

‘So, metallic gold meaning the two of them have mad skills with a blade translates somehow into an assignment for the Loony Librarian? How?' Porter asked.

‘I
think
when you say Loony Librarian, you're referring to our expert literature and linguistics consultant, but yes.'

Jenna crossed the room to the whiteboard where Saleda had drawn boxes, one for each UNSUB, and written what was known about each. Some boxes were more spare than others, often noting no more than how many kills and what number they were through the door. Others noted the type of weapon or weapons used, if they could be made out from the grainy video. Inside four boxes, names of literary characters were written with a question mark and circled: Scout, Richelieu, Holmes, and Watson.

‘We think they gave themselves classic literary aliases. They're leaving behind messages using classic literary quotes. So, our next step should be figuring out the aliases of the other nine UNSUBS. Right now, the aliases are a jumping off point to telling us more about the killers. The more individual UNSUBs we can profile, the more we can piece together what they're about as a group and how we might find them,' Jenna said.

‘Don't you think it's possible it's just a gimmick? You know, they needed to be able to call each other names while running their …
heist
… or whatever it was … so they just said, ‘OK, everybody pick a celebrity name,' or ‘Let's all be superheroes!' Why assume it's anything more than just the first category that came to them?' Teva said.

‘That should be obvious, Rookie,' Dodd said, clapping Teva on the back as he reached the group. ‘Sure, they could just be names, but the note and witness message aren't even the only things that say literature is at the very core of this case. We know the UNSUBs picked aliases rooted in it, but we also
know
– to some degree anyway – they're playacting it. We just saw a guy beat someone half to death with a weighted riding crop, for fuck's sake. Maybe just the one sick perp has a hard-on for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters and used this outing as an opportunity to cosplay and promote his terroristic agenda at the same time. But look around. Crazy weapons that don't even make sense when a few AK-47s and a grenade would've done. From the look of some of that hardware, these perps must've robbed the Smithsonian or knocked over an antique store on the way to the bank.'

Teva's face turned red, and she looked down. Quiet.

Dodd was right, but damn, he could be an ass. Especially lately, he'd seemed to have it in for Teva.

Jenna shook the thought.
Focus.

‘Dodd's right. I didn't bring butter with me to grease his big head when it gets stuck going out the door later,' Jenna said, taking a long pause to shoot him a menacing glare, ‘but he's right. Their actions, words, and the couple of names Ashlee Haynie managed to remember hearing all make it seem like examining the aliases to enhance their individual profiles is warranted.'

Teva stayed quiet, staring at her toes, but if there was any awkward silence in the group, Porter hadn't noticed it.

‘OK, but that's just it. We only know Scout because Ashlee heard it and we could place the timing of what was said with what was happening on the camera footage to figure out which UNSUB the alias referred to. We haven't got a clue who Richelieu is unless one of those perps was wearing a red robe and a skull cap and I just missed him the first time.'

‘True,' Saleda said, ‘which is why part of what will be important about this is figuring out why each perpetrator was so named. The character they chose could reflect a lot of who they are – or try to be. Reveal ideologies, personalities. Strengths or background. Maybe their fictional character came from the geographic location where they have family, or a perp chose the alias Porthos because his favorite candy bar is Three Musketeers.'

‘So basically what you're saying here is, if we use
virtually nothing
to figure out something
very specific
, then bam! We'll nab our Gang of Wild Mad Literati?'

‘We don't have nothing,' Jenna said, chunking a paperclip at Porter. ‘We have lots of little things. We use them.'