Kingdom come, p.17
Kingdom Come, page 17
I’d dabbled in that line of illegal activity. As I worked to reinvent myself, simple ransomware attacks on lesser-known businesses helped to build my financial base. I targeted smaller businesses, ones that dealt in smaller cities and thrived due to their reputation. Admitting to the world that they’d lost their customers’ personal information would cause irreparable damage. It was easier to make an insurance claim, pay me a few million, and move on.
“Maybe,” Cecilia said, “that spyware is something new to help us fight the cyberattacks.”
“Or it was put in place to find anyone with a connection to you.”
“Were you able to see if there is a missing person’s report?”
I shook my head. “There wasn’t earlier this morning. That’s changed.” I entered the password and pulled up the page I’d saved. “It isn’t missing persons as much as...here look. I was right about my connection.”
The news bulletin contained both of our pictures. I, Greyson Ingalls, was listed as a person of interest in the mysterious disappearance of Cecilia Abernathy. Neither the Abernathy family nor the Dellingers had a comment.
The bulletin appeared late this morning. Having my picture and name out to the world not only put a target on my back, it also narrowed my old target, the one where someone from my past would see or hear of me, learn the name I was using, and carry out what he wanted to do before I left New Orleans. And if he’d been told I was dead, he’d now know he was lied to.
I couldn’t think about that right now.
I didn’t know what he’d been told.
When Cecilia finished reading, she looked my way. “I’m sorry, Greyson. This is wrong. I’ll explain everything to my dad and grandfather.”
“It’s a fucking spotlight. The people who did this to me knew it would be. I’m so damn stupid to believe that anyone would want to help me be more than a scum worker for hire.”
“I’m not sure why that was done to you or everything to me.” Cecilia went to the refrigerator and took out a water bottle. The time on the corner of my computer told me it was past lunch.
“If you’re hungry, there is sandwich meat.”
She shook her head and began to pace the length of the kitchen. “I think you’re right.”
“About?”
“It was an inside job.”
Cecilia’s uncle’s name was on the tip of my tongue as she went on.
“Two men entered my office. I’d forgotten that. I was thinking about Matthew, and I recalled that one man was holding me back. He had his hand over my mouth.” Her expression changed as if she tasted something sour. “I recall I tried to scream, but he was holding me against his chest. He made me watch as the other man shot Matthew.”
Whoever did this to Cecilia wanted her traumatized. It was hard to believe it all went back to her uncle, but why else would he have been at the restaurant, the one below where she was being held?
“Did you see their faces?” I asked.
“Yes, but I don’t recall anything. I can’t even describe them. All I remember with clarity is watching as the one pulled the trigger. Blood splattered...” She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. “You know how when you walk down the street or are in a store or restaurant, you see the people around you, but you don’t? The next day you can’t recall anyone’s face or even hair color. It’s like that.”
“Do you think they were the ones who had you in that closet?”
She leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table and supporting her forehead. Looking down at the table, she shrugged. “I wish I could say yes. I’d sleep better knowing they were dead, but the men in the office didn’t cover their faces. I can’t recall their voices like I did the other men.”
“If they didn’t cover their faces, then their faces should be on your security footage, right?”
“Right.”
“Can you access it?”
“I don’t know. I could from my office, but if I do from here, I could trigger the same spyware.” She lifted her head. “I’ve been trying to come up with a list of employees at Dellinger who would have the needed access to get to me.
“You’re right that everything that happened in my office and even the hallways should be recorded. They had to find Matthew’s body. The men gave me an injection of some kind, and I didn’t wake until I was in the closet. If they carried me, that too should be on the video surveillance. I don’t understand why I just made the news today.”
I didn’t respond.
Cecilia’s eyes brightened. “Oh, Greyson, that security footage can save you too. With it, they’ll see that you weren’t one of those men.”
“If we’re right and it was an inside job, that surveillance is long gone.”
She shook her head. “Very few people have the ability to erase any footage. Really, no one.”
“If I got into your system, I could. Trust me, someone did.”
Sighing, she took another drink of water.
“This is what I think,” I began, ready to lay a lot out for her. “The transaction with you, the whole thing from your abduction through the sale on the dark web, was pre-planned. It wouldn’t have mattered how much I bid. The winner was predetermined and all other bids were irrelevant.”
“What do you mean? There wasn’t really an auction? Thousands of people didn’t see me...tied...like I was?”
I wish I could confirm that. I couldn’t. I also knew the number of views was over a million. Cecilia didn’t need that information.
“The auction occurred,” I confirmed. “I found the site. There were bids coming in from all over the world.”
“They made me say my name.” Cecilia sat back and covered her stomach with her hands. “People saw me and know who I am.”
“Not anyone who matters.”
“The tabloids hate me.” Her brown eyes grew glossy. “If they get ahold of the video...”
“If they had it, they would have shown it by now. The news bulletin I showed you is the only piece of news since your abduction. That video served its purpose.”
To lead me on the trail of breadcrumbs.
“I don’t understand.”
I shook my head. “I still can’t prove a damn thing, but until I have proof, I’m afraid you’re not safe at home. We need to know who set you up.”
“Who hired you, Greyson Ingalls? That’s the person who set you up. Who is it?”
“A very powerful man on the West Coast. He showed me the video and told me that he wanted you. I didn’t ask why.” I stood and took a deep breath. “You don’t ask questions in this line of business. He wanted you. I said I’d find you.”
“Why did he want me?”
I shook my head.
“Will you tell me his name?”
“No.”
“Now that you have me...” she paused. “Why haven’t you taken me to him?”
“Because I believe he set me up. I don’t think he believed I’d find you. I was the fall guy. He would end up with you, and I’d go down as the kidnapper. Does that sound like the kind of man I want to face? If I hand you over, my reward could easily be the same as your bodyguard’s.”
Cecilia’s eyes opened and closed. “Did that powerful man finance your bids?”
“No.”
“How much money did you bid?”
I wasn’t sure how Cecilia would take the news; nevertheless, I had no reason to lie about this. “Thirty million.”
Her brown eyes doubled in size as she opened them wide. “You were willing to pay thirty million for me?”
“I was planning on shafting them, but yes, that was my bid.”
“So this buyer” —her nose scrunched— “paid more than that?”
“I don’t know, and I think the amount was irrelevant. I believe the transaction didn’t occur on the dark web. That video was simply advertisement and bait for me.” I looked down at my computer. “I’m going to do some more research.”
“I wish I could help.” Her gaze went to the burner phone I’d brought in.
I lifted it, still packaged in plastic. “I have faith in my networks. As long as I don’t do something stupid like I did with Dellinger, I know they can’t be tracked. However, this is your insurance policy.”
“Mine?”
“If something happens. If we’re found, I want you to take this and run, run away and run as fast as you can.”
“Where?”
“Run into the woods. There isn’t another cabin for over a mile away. When you’re able, call your mother’s direct line. It’s the safest route. Even if your abduction was an inside job, she’s the one I hope you can trust. Tell her not to inform your grandfather, father, or uncle and to send help, people she trusts with her life.” The idea of Cecilia on her own and my plan backfiring ate away at me. “Don’t use the phone unless it’s our last resort.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve died before.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means don’t let everything we’ve done be in vain. Use this phone if you have to. Save yourself.”
Slowly, she reached for the package. “You’re going to trust me with it?”
“Right now, Cecilia, you’re the only person I trust.”
Cecilia
As the evening sun continued to warm the air, I stood on the deck. Lifting my face, I enjoyed the breeze upon my skin and blowing my hair. I’d come outside because watching Greyson work was getting arduous, making me feel useless. If I were at Dellinger, I could be actively tracking down leads, talking to security, and finding answers. Instead, I was in the middle of a giant forest.
Pushing those thoughts away, I concentrated on the almost extinguished fire within the brick pit. With lack of fuel, it had mostly burnt itself out. Along with searching through cyberspace, Greyson had been adding kindling all day. Now, at after seven at night, and after burning for over twelve hours, the fire was waning. Tomorrow, Greyson would remove all the ashes and scatter them in the woods.
There would be no detectable connection from the three dead men to us.
If only it was that easy.
I ran my fingers over my purple wrists.
A rustle of the underbrush stilled my movement and thoughts as my gaze was pulled to the tree line. Holding my breath, I followed the trees that surrounded the backyard. As my pulse pounded, I watched, trying to see into the shadows within.
Relief came in the form of two squirrels, running and playing, as they chased one another and scurried through the leaves and twigs. After Greyson’s warnings, the serenity I’d felt when I walked onto the deck this morning was gone.
He was concerned; there was no other reason he’d trust me with the burner phone.
Having the phone gave me power. I could call now and ask for help. I could turn him in for killing my abductors. I could ask my grandfather to find the person who decided I was a commodity.
Even though I could, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to do any of those things, even after I opened the package and activated the chip.
The news bulletin was wrong. Greyson Ingalls hadn’t kidnapped me. He never assaulted or humiliated me. Yes, he tried to hide behind an uncaring shield, to say things to push me away, but his true side came out in other ways. A smile came to my face as I recalled the bags of ice in the freezer. He’d read where I should place ice for twenty minutes and then take it off for twenty minutes. Even with everything that was happening, he’d managed to accumulate enough bags to last me for a few days.
Despite the comments he sometimes made, he wasn’t a man who meant me harm.
Greyson was nothing like the two men who killed Matthew or the three that held me for days. In the twenty-four hours since he took me away from Boston, Greyson had given me back not only a sense of security but also dignity.
I couldn’t risk a call if it meant risking him too.
Without him, I’d be...
That was a sentence that continued to return and one that the final phrase scared me. The end of that sentence was more frightening than memories of my past.
The unknown was out there.
From what Greyson explained, the wealthy man on the West Coast probably still wanted me. He’d used Greyson as a decoy—the person to take the fall for my disappearance. Greyson believed that if the wealthy man who hired him wasn’t the buyer, he was connected to the buyer.
That left the seller, most likely someone who worked within Dellinger. I continued to rack my brain with the question of who within our corporation decided that I was a commodity to be bought and sold.
As the squirrels disappeared into the depth of the forest, I knew that I was here, standing in the New Hampshire sun instead of with the buyer, for one reason. Greyson Ingalls succeeded when he was supposed to fail.
If Greyson was also right and the video was primarily bait for him, I began to wonder if my parents had even seen it.
I tried to recall my thirty-nine-second conversation with my mother. She hadn’t mentioned the video and neither had I.
Was that because she hadn’t seen it?
If she hadn’t and Dad hadn’t, were they searching for me?
Where did they think I’d gone?
Surely, they’d been informed of what happened in my office.
No one could keep that from my father or grandfather.
The sound of the opening door caused me to turn.
The weariness that came with spending too long in front of a screen showed in Greyson’s eyes. He stretched his arms over his head and sighed. I couldn’t help but see him as more than he saw himself. With his deep blue eyes, high cheekbones, and lips that I knew were kissable, he was handsome in a regal way. His shoulders were broad; his body was solid and toned. My gaze went to where his shirt moved up during his stretch, showing me his defined torso that narrowed at his hips and where his jeans hung low. With his arms over his head, the V some men had led beneath the jeans with a trail of dark blond hair to match that on his head and the scruff on his cheeks. His voice returned my gaze to his face.
“You should reapply the ice.”
“Why are you here, with me?” I asked.
“I was hired to retrieve you.”
I sat on the bench. “You have me.”
He shook his head. “It’s not that easy, Cecilia.”
“Can you take a break from your research?”
“I had to. I’m going in fucking circles. If I had my real setup...”
“The one that was destroyed?”
Sighing, Greyson sat on the bench, careful to be out of reach of me.
“You know, I don’t bite,” I said with a grin.
“I do, Cecilia.”
“Hmm. Interesting.”
That made him grin. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I’m not a child, Greyson. I know what I’m doing.” When he turned toward the same tree line, I offered, “I heard some noises, but they turned out to be two squirrels.”
“If I could properly protect us, I’d worry less.”
I wasn’t certain why my next question materialized, but it did. “Is Greyson Ingalls your real name?”
His blue orbs came to me. “Not everyone has a real name.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means that names change. Will you always be Cecilia Abernathy or will you one day change your last name?”
“I haven’t given it much thought. I could keep Abernathy or hyphenate.”
“And when you make that decision, what will your real name be, the one you choose or the one you had when you were born?”
“You’re right. I guess I’ve been thinking and you said you have enemies from your past. You said having your picture and name in the news bulletin would alert them. Alert them to what?” I answered with my prediction. “Alert them that you’re still alive and using the name Greyson Ingalls.”
“I’ve already given you enough information to have your grandfather kill me. You don’t need more.”
“You keep saying that. Greyson, or whatever your name is, I don’t want you dead. My grandfather will reward you for saving me.”
“And then the man on the West Coast will kill me. If I deliver you to him, your family will ensure my death if that man doesn’t. You know the saying—damned if you do and damned if you don’t. The way I see it, this is my last hurrah.”
“I’ve been thinking,” I said. “If I’m right and you’ve been hiding from old enemies, then you can hide from the man on the West Coast and my family.”
Greyson stood and walked to the fire pit, picking up the long stick and stirring what was left of the hot embers. “I’m tired of hiding. It’s fruitless.” He shook his head. “I convinced myself that I could rebuild my reputation, remake myself, and eventually earn back what I’d lost. Not the exact city but the status. I was lying to myself. There’s no coming back from how far I fell.”
Keeping my distance was wearing on me. Greyson could—and probably would—reject me again, but I wanted him to know that I saw him differently than he saw himself. I longed for a connection to him, be it physical or emotional. My desire wasn’t only fueled by the fact that he saved me. It wasn’t because the more I saw of him, the more I found him attractive. The lure I didn’t want to fight was him, the man who made small bags of ice packs, who provided clothing even before I told him I was without, and who watched over me when I wanted to be alone.
Standing, I walked to the side of the fire pit. Crouching down, I laid my hands on the brick ring. Despite the lack of flames, the bricks were still warm from the day of radiating heat. Craning my neck, I looked up at Greyson. “Don’t give up.”
“It’s too late.”
I stood. “Greyson, you could go, leave me here. I’ll make the call you said after you’re far away. Take another name and pursue your dream. I don’t want to be the cause of its death.”
“You aren’t, Cecilia. I killed that dream all by myself. You are the fucking last taste of life I don’t deserve.”
