Predator's Game, page 25
part #6 of Scott Wolfe Series
One of the security men put his hand on my arm.
I looked down at his hand and then back to him. “You have one second before you pull back a bloody stump.”
He quickly took his hand off me before nodding toward the exit. I glared at Cantor, feigning disgust before I walked down the hall, ignoring my escort. Behind me I heard Cantor on the phone. “Yes, sir. I have confirmation the CIA had no prior INTEL on the hostages until Wolfe went in to rescue them and he is now off the investigation.”
I didn’t think Cantor was a mole, but by pouring our information into the Department of Justice cauldron like that, it would only be a matter of time before Combine knew it as well—I had my breathing room and John Temple had arranged for it. Every time I’m ready to dump your ass, John Temple, you do something to make me love you again.
When we reached the staircase at the end of the corridor, Nick and Penny Rhodes were waiting for me.
“In the shit big time, huh?” Nick asked with a grin.
I shrugged as Nick held his hand up, stopping the two security men from following.
“We’ve got it from here,” Penny said before taking up position on the other side of me.
The two armed guards nodded and fell back before Nick pushed the door open and grabbed my arm, dragging me up the stairs. I looked to the side with a quick glance out of my peripheral vision. Something about Penny Rhodes struck me at that moment—something familiar, something that tugged at my inner mind. It took me a few seconds to process the feeling.
And then it hit me—Son of a bitch! I know who you are. And I know why John trusts you.
Nick yanked me into a corner beneath the stairwell camera and then began speaking without making any sound.
“Internal security and the section are the only ones who know who you brought in,” he mouthed without speaking. “But Justice is already setting up interviews…that gives you zero time to get info from Bailey before the bad guys start targeting their leveraged assets. As soon as this hits the street, you can bet the assassinations will start now that their hostages are free.”
I nodded.
“If DOJ doesn’t interfere, we’ll put protection units on the rest of the list now that we know who they are,” he lipped before a contrite expression slipped over his face. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you and Ruth…you were right. It wasn’t about the money with Bailey.”
“No one’s perfect,” I mouthed before winking.
He grinned and looked up at Penny. She handed me a piece of paper with a time and location, handwritten.
I looked up after glancing at it. “Transport?”
She nodded, though it was clear from her expression she wasn’t on board with the idea one hundred percent.
I ripped the pertinent information off the sheet before stuffing it into my mouth and swallowing it—the act suddenly made me aware of my hunger.
“Keep it tight,” Nick mouthed.
I nodded before walking up the stairs, bracketed by both of them. When we got to the building exit, they stopped and let me walk to the van alone. I waved at both of them as I got in. Nick shot me a crooked grin—Penny remained impassive, obviously still pissed that I was playing this on my own—Too fucking bad.
On the way out of the facility, an SUV pulled in behind me and followed me. I stuck my arm out and waved as they stopped at the exit gate. As soon as I was a couple of blocks away, I pulled out my phone and dialed Storc.
“Yeah,” he said, clipped.
“Hey…what’s wrong?”
“I don’t have enough ASAs for the new server racks,” he said, annoyed, referring to a physical firewall device, “and I’m babysitting Kathrin and your new friend. I can’t get out to pick any up.”
“Are you back at the house?” I asked.
“Yeah. Got back an hour or so ago.”
“Can you get Mahesh or Jo to bring you some?”
“Mahesh is on the West Coast setting up satellite backups for TravTech, and Jo’s got some big analyst project she’s working on for the section.”
“Do you have any units at TravTech?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “In the storage locker in the server room.”
“I’m on the road anyway,” I said. “I’ll stop by and get them. How many do you need?”
“Four,” he replied, sounding relieved. “Your friend, Mark, is nosy. I’ve caught him going through my supplies twice.”
“Kathrin and I did too…he’s just not as subtle about it.”
He laughed. “Are you back in town for a while?”
“No. I have a flight to catch tonight, but I’ll be around for a few hours.”
“Do you have enough time to help me put in the search perams for the system you hacked in France?”
“Yeah, sure,” I replied. It almost sounded as if he were feeling neglected. “Shit is starting to pile up on me and I’m losing track of all the loose ends that aren’t tied up.”
“I feel ya there, bro,” he said, sincere.
“Do the best you can. I won’t hold it against you if you miss something.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” I replied. “And put your foot down with Mark. Tell him to stay out of your shit.”
He laughed again. “Will do. Later.”
“I’ll see you in a bit with the ASAs.”
I drove to Reston, enjoying the solitude along the way. I stopped at a drive thru and ordered three plates of scrambled eggs and bacon from a fast food joint, tossing the biscuits and hash browns back into the bag before scarfing down the protein as I drove. But the extra-jumbo, super-sized coffee actually did more to improve my mood than the food.
I parked in the visitor lot at TravTech and took the stairwell up to the “Special Projects” department—my department—after stripping off my tactical vest and body armor. I tucked my Glock into my waistband before going up. When I arrived, I was surprised to see a new guard. That was a problem—I had no ID on me.
“Can I help you?” the guard asked, his right hand conspicuously below the desk—no doubt clutching a weapon.
“Yeah, I’m here to see Jo Zook,” I replied, looking around to see if anything else had changed.
“Your name please?”
“Scott,” I replied with a stiff smile.
He nodded and dialed Jo’s extension. After speaking briefly, he looked up and smiled. “She’ll be right up.”
“Thanks,” I replied before taking a seat next to the secure door.
When it opened and Jo looked around, I quickly pressed my finger to my lips before she ran over and hugged me. That was quite uncharacteristic for the Jo I knew—it had been a few months, though.
“I’m so glad to see you,” she said. “We’ve been worried.”
“I’m fine. Storc needs some ASAs from the equipment locker, and I don’t have my badge.”
The guard looked up upon hearing that. “Are you Mr. Wolfe?”
I grimaced and nodded. “Yes. But please don’t log it.”
He shot me a strange expression but then nodded as his other hand finally emerged from beneath the desk.
“Thanks,” I said as Jo took me by the arm and led me through the secure door.
“How long are you staying?” she asked quietly without looking at me.
I glanced at her nearly translucent, porcelain-white face out of the corner of my eye. She had reduced the number of piercings on her face since the last time I’d seen her. “You need to get out into the sun,” I said as she swiped her badge across the security plate for the server room.
She looked at me, expressionless.
Damn, you’d be good at the Agency.
“I’m picking these up and heading out.”
“It’s almost lunchtime,” she said. “Bonbon will be a nightmare to live with for a month if she finds out you were here and didn’t stop to see her… Why don’t you take her to lunch?”
I shook my head as we entered the server room. “No time, but I will stop and say hi.”
“She’s been a basket case since Storc was attacked,” Jo said.
I was about to mention the need for separation of TravTech duties and Agency duties when I looked up and saw two faces I didn’t recognize.
“Hi,” one of them said.
I smiled and nodded before she looked at Jo.
“This is Maggie and Joan,” Jo said. “We brought them on last fall.”
I nodded as they turned and waited for me to give my name. When I didn’t, Maggie looked back to Jo. “Ms. Zook, I’ve put the bypass in place for the encryption dock but now I’m getting feed errors. It looks like they’re tied to the source. We’re not going to be able to bypass the backup from BRE.”
She nodded before looking at me, a question forming on her lips. The data backup to BRE Cryptography had been a security concern since before I’d found Harbinger. I’m glad Jo was working on getting it cut off.
“Ms. Zook?” I asked with a grin.
“Shut up,” she muttered. “Do you think there’s a way to bypass the encrypted backup feed to BRE?”
I smiled and looked at the racks. Personnel hadn’t been the only new additions since the last time I’d been ‘home’. There were a dozen new server clusters.
“Yeah,” I said, walking over and looking at the new configuration. “Change the primary IP, set it to a boot cluster and then firewall the data servers with a new set of internal-only IP addresses.”
Joan looked up. “How will we get the data feed if we separate them?”
“Just keep the feed on the receiving drives and alias the database to the internal IP set.”
The two new admins looked at each other and smiled. “That should work.”
Maggie looked back at me. “Who are you?”
“Just a visitor,” I replied before walking to the equipment locker and punching in the code. I could feel their eyes following me.
When I pulled out four ASA firewall devices, they swiveled their heads around to “Ms. Zook” with questioning frowns on their faces. She just nodded that it was okay.
I put them on a cart and started rolling them toward the door. “You need to sign for those,” Joan said.
I looked at Jo and shook my head.
“It’ll be okay,” Jo said as we left the room. “They’ll be replaced.”
“What’s going on?” Joan asked.
“Nothing to worry about…it’s Agency business.”
I smiled as the door closed behind us, Joan and Maggie’s stares frozen as we disappeared from their sight.
“You’ll raise questions like that,” Jo whispered.
I shrugged. “It’s an emergency. You should see what he needs them for.”
“I have…who do you think set up his satellite links?”
I raised an eyebrow at the disclosure. “There were some very small shoes in the corner of—”
“You’re invading my privacy,” she snapped before a glowing blush rose to her pale cheek.
“Sorry,” I replied, stifling a chuckle.
She hit me in the shoulder as we approached the developers’ room. There were new faces in there as well. Several of them looked up as we entered. Bonbon was leaning over a table in the back of the room discussing code with one of her new employees. She stood and looked behind her when she realized it had gotten quiet.
Jo discretely pulled the cart away from me as Bonny sprinted toward me. She leapt into the air and straddled me with legs and arms before kissing me fully on the lips. The near midget was surely a striking sight, hanging off a man nearly two feet taller than her. When her legs started to slip I reached around and hugged her. When she finally broke her kiss she pulled her head back, mouth open but unable to speak.
“Hi,” I said quietly with a grin, taunting her with a raised eyebrow over her spontaneous emotional outburst. I knew the kiss wasn’t anything but pure joy at seeing me, but it was fun to hold it over her a bit.
“Where have you been?!” she yelled at me as she released her grip and dropped to the floor.
“Here and there,” I replied, still grinning. “Have you gotten taller?”
“Shut up,” she snapped. “Don’t you dare make me laugh. I’m pissed at you.”
“I just got here, how can you be pissed at me already?” I asked, confounded.
“It’s been more than six months, Scott Wolfe!”
Shit!
Every head in the room that wasn’t already facing us snapped around. “Scott Wolfe?”
Before I could stop them, intercom buttons were being punched and the secret was being spilled.
“Nice,” I muttered. “Thanks Bon.”
“Don’t even,” she said as she grabbed my arm and dragged me down the hall.
I noticed the hall had grown much longer since last I was there. Doors opened and disgorged a crowd of faces I didn’t recognize. She yanked me into Jo’s office before pushing through the door to my space. It hadn’t changed…not a pen was out of place.
“Where have you been?” she asked again, her voice reminding me of a munchkin version of Fran Drescher.
“I’ve been working, Bon,” I said quietly, trying to take the volume of our conversation down a notch.
“For six months and no word?”
“I talked to you last month,” I said.
“Yeah! For like two minutes, when your apartment got broken into—”
I hugged her, but she pushed me away. I just stood back and shook my head.
“When are you coming back?”
I smiled. “That was some kiss,” I said as I heard voices gathering outside of Jo’s office.
I reached over and pushed my door closed.
“I didn’t have time to think about how angry I am at you,” she said with a mock pout. “A day doesn’t go by that I don’t worry about you.”
“You have the misfortune of having known me before I went to work for the Agency,” I whispered as I tried to put my arms around her again. She didn’t fight me this time.
“You are insufferably frustrating,” she said, muffled from speaking into my shirt before pushing me away again. “And ewww…you reek!”
I laughed. “I guess I have time to take a shower before I head out.”
“Head out?! Again?”
“Bon, I just stopped by to get some firewalls for Storc.”
“That’s another thing…you’ve dragged him into this and he got his ass beat for it,” she said, her anger rising up again. “Why would you clue him in to this shit and not me? I’ve known you just as long.”
Ah! You feel left out of the secret world of Scott Wolfe.
“Because he got his ass beat for it,” I replied, gently.
“I can handle myself.”
“And everyone else,” I muttered.
She slapped me. “Not funny. It’s hell being the only mother you raggedy orphans have.”
“I know…but you do such a lovely job. I’d hate to distract you from your primary function in life.”
“Goddamn it, Scott,” she said, trying to stifle a grin. “It’s not funny. I need to know you and Storc are safe.”
“We’re safe,” I said.
“I don’t believe you.”
I took a deep breath before turning for the door. I felt her hand on my back.
“What’s this,” she asked as I felt my Glock slide out of the back of my pants.
“Bon!” I went to grab it from her but she was already backing away.
“This…this is what I’m talking about,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes. “Why would you possibly need to walk around with one of these things?”
I stepped toward her with my hand outstretched. “Bon, that’s loaded. Give it to me.”
“Answer me, Scott!”
“Give me the fucking gun, Bonny…now!”
I startled her. She looked at it before handing it back to me slowly as if she had just realized a gun was something dangerous.
When I tucked it back into my pants, she pushed past me and out of the office, crying full stream now.
“Damn it,” I muttered as I chased after her.
I grabbed her by the elbow but she yanked her arm away. “Get off me,” she said before running down the hall and slamming the door to her office. A second later the door opened again and four people stepped out, looking backward in confusion.
Jo stepped up to me. “That went well, I see.”
I shook my head as I grabbed the cart and rolled it toward the door. “I’d forgotten she’s more sensitive than she projects.”
“She’ll be fine,” Jo replied. “Just give her a few minutes to calm down.”
“I don’t have a few minutes. I have to get these back to Storc and then catch a flight to Colorado.”
When I got to the lobby, I picked up two of the firewall units and Jo picked up the other two. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll walk you down.”
We left the special projects office and I nodded to the guard at the desk. He nodded toward me before returning to monitoring the security video feed for the section. I could tell Jo wanted to say something all the way down but she seemed to be struggling to get it out.
When we reached the exit at the bottom of the stairwell she stopped, gently tugging at my arm to halt me before I could exit. “She loves you,” Jo said quietly.
“I know.”
She leaned against the wall next to the door. “She wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for you and Storc…she hates working for the CIA.”
Surprise raised my eyebrow at the statement.
“Come on,” Jo said, disbelieving. “You had to know. She’s about as counterculture as they come, and working for the government is the biggest slap she could imagine…and that’s coming from me,” she added, tugging at the collar of her blouse to reveal the tattoo on her neck.
Deep down I knew she was right. The outcome would have been the same, though. She came to Special Projects because I was there. “Would she be happier if I transferred her back to the main floor at TravTech?”
Jo shrugged. “I doubt it,” she said before sighing. “She wants to have some connection to you and Storc.”
