Code conspiracy, p.12
Code Conspiracy, page 12
“That’s because I’m an ass. We already established that.” He kissed her right there on the sidewalk. “You’re lovable in so many ways, I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count them.”
Leaning into him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. “I’m glad you’re on my side...but you’re wrong about Olaf. He loves himself.”
He propped his chin on top of her head. “We’re impeding traffic. Are we going to walk all the way back to your place or are we going to grab a taxi?”
“Subway stop’s right ahead.”
As they swayed on the subway in unison, Jerrica tucked a hand into Gray’s pocket. “I’m glad Kelly got out of the city. If these people are willing to poison Kiera’s son, they wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to Amit’s girlfriend. I’m lucky. I don’t have anyone close to me they can threaten.”
“You have me.” He kissed the curve of her ear.
She curled her fingers in his pocket. “I’m not worried about you. You can take care of yourself.”
“I wish I could say the same about you.”
“What do you mean?” She tipped her head back. “I can take care of myself. You know that.”
“You’re street savvy. I’ll give you that.” He tugged on a lock of her hair sticking out of the bottom of the cap. “And you know how to take security measures...usually...but these people are different. They’re not government, or if they are, they’re not playing by any rules.”
She snorted softly. “When did the government ever play by any rules?”
“Okay, you have a right to say that.” His hand crept to the back of her neck. “When do you think you’ll have a handle on the program that can decode the transmissions?”
“I am a super hacker, but I’m not that good. It’s going to take a little time. In the meantime, maybe we lure these government moles out of their hiding places.”
The train slowed to a stop and rocked back and forth, throwing them together.
Gray put his hands on her waist. “You’re going to use yourself as bait?”
“That’s the point of going to DC to visit your very well-connected family, right? Memorial Day barbecue to rub elbows with the movers and shakers on the Hill. You know they’ll all be there if the Prescotts call. We also know whoever is at the crux of this scheme is a mover and shaker. Has to be.”
“You’re right.” He drilled a knuckle into her back to propel her off the subway. “I’ll start setting that plan in motion.”
They sneaked into her building through the alley, and Gray brushed his fist against the chalk dust left by Cedar’s message. “I wonder where he went?”
“I wonder why he went? He must be afraid of something.”
“It’s Olaf.”
“That makes no sense at all.” Jerrica pressed her lips together as she charged up the stairs ahead of Gray.
There was another reason Olaf wouldn’t betray her, but she couldn’t reveal that to Gray...yet. If they were going to get back together, she’d have to tell him at some point. Or would she? That family of his.
She held her breath as they entered her apartment until she saw Amit asleep on the sofa, the blanket across his chest rising and falling with every breath. This feeling of worrying about someone besides herself was alien.
She’d never worried about Gray, even when he was deployed. The man was solid, impenetrable. She couldn’t imagine anything or anyone getting the better of Gray Prescott.
But someone like Amit? She’d never worried about him before, but having him here in her place, dependent on her to help him, caused a whole different strain of feelings in her breast.
She hadn’t decided yet whether or not she liked it.
She put her finger to her lips. “Shh. He’s out.”
Gray picked up a pill bottle and shook it. “Looks like he took a little something for the pain.”
“Can you blame him?”
“Not at all, but he’s going to have to pull himself together and get out of here. He can join his girlfriend. We can’t leave him here alone when we go to DC.”
“I know.” She pulled the blanket up to Amit’s chin. “He’s going to lose it when we tell him about Kiera’s son and what they did to him.”
Folding his arms, Gray leaned against the kitchen counter. “Are you going to check the Cedar message board for anything?”
“I will.” Jerrica stifled a yawn. “I don’t think he’ll use it, though.”
“You should set up one of those alerts like you did on the message board you used with Kiera. Then you don’t have to keep checking it, right?”
“Yeah. I didn’t do it with his because he didn’t respond and Kiera did.”
“Now we know why she did.”
Jerrica rubbed her arms and rose from the sofa. “It’s been a terrible night. Imagine how Russell felt—to go through that poisoning all for nothing—they killed his mother anyway.”
“We’re going to put a stop to all of it, including their sarin gas attack.”
Jerrica slid her laptop from the coffee table and placed it on the counter. She accessed the TV message board they used for Cedar’s communications and she searched for any posts from Cruz, Cedar’s user name.
“Nothing.” She snapped the laptop closed. “To be continued tomorrow. I’m exhausted.”
“I am, too.”
Jerrica gathered her computer, phone and chargers and trailed after Gray up the stairs. She wouldn’t mind a repeat performance of last night’s escapades, but it didn’t feel right to have sex after someone had been murdered in front of you.
When would it feel right? How long would it take to get back to normal life? It had taken her years to even feel anything at all after the FBI killed her family.
If she were honest with herself, she’d been numb until she met Gray. He’d touched something inside her because he hadn’t been afraid of her or what she had to say. He hadn’t been afraid of her feelings and so for the first time she’d allowed them to spill out in all their ugliness. He hadn’t flinched—not once.
As Gray brushed his teeth in her bathroom, she settled cross-legged on the bed with her devices. She checked her phone for messages, and then plugged it in to the charger.
She flipped open her laptop and scanned her email. Her finger froze as she rolled across a message from a Guatemalan coffee company. She double-clicked on the message, and the words jumped from the screen.
I’m okay. Are you okay?
Chapter Eleven
Gray swiped the hand towel across his face and stared at himself in the mirror. He wanted to take Jerrica into his arms and comfort her. Kiera’s death had shaken her to the core, and Russell’s experience had skewered her heart.
His girl needed a shoulder and a secure place to land, but he didn’t want her to think he was making a move on her after the stressful and upsetting day she’d had. That didn’t feel right.
As he walked into the bedroom, Jerrica slammed down the lid of her laptop and pushed it onto the nightstand, knocking her phone to the floor. She leaned over the edge of the bed, trailing a hand across the throw rug.
“It went under the bed. I’ll get it.” He strode across the room on his bare feet, crouched down and retrieved the phone.
“Thanks.” She snatched it from him and placed it on top of her computer. Then she sank under the covers, pulling a pillow beneath her head, her face flushed.
Gray cocked his head, shrugged and circled around to his side of the bed. He clicked off the overhead light and crawled between the sheets. “Any news from Cedar or anyone else?”
Jerrica’s body stiffened. “No.”
“Are you all right?” He placed a hand on her shoulder.
She rolled away from his touch. “What do you think? Kiera’s dead. Her son is recovering from a poisoning. Cedar’s on the run. Amit’s lying on my sofa, battered and weak. Nothing’s all right.”
“I’m here for you, Jerrica.” Gray reached out in the darkness, his hand hovering over her hair. “If you need...anything. I’m right here.”
“I just need sleep. Good night, Gray.”
He snatched back his hand and buried it beneath the covers. He’d handled that all wrong, but then Jerrica was like a feral animal sometimes. One wrong move and she could scratch your eyes out.
She’d been different on the subway home, leaning into him, seeking comfort he was only too willing to give. What had changed?
His gaze slid to the laptop on the bedside table, just visible over Jerrica’s slim outline in the bed. She’d been on her computer when he came out of the bathroom. Had she gotten more bad news?
If so, why would she keep it from him? They were in this together. But then, the woman had kept secrets from him in the past. She’d been raised on secrets and lies...and leopards didn’t change their spots.
Not even leopards you loved.
* * *
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Gray woke with a start, sitting upright in the bed, his heart pounding. He reached across the sheets, and he gulped back the panic as his hand swept the smooth emptiness.
When Jerrica’s voice floated upstairs, Gray clenched a fist and pressed it against his chest until his heart returned to its normal rhythm. He must’ve had a bad dream.
He rubbed his eyes and peered at Jerrica’s nightstand, now empty of her phone and laptop. He scratched the stubble on his chin. He’d been imagining things last night just because Jerrica had withdrawn from him. He should know her moods by now.
Rolling from the bed, he called downstairs. “Coffee ready?”
“It’s alive!” Jerrica called back up to him.
Gray leaned over the railing and peered down at Jerrica’s smiling, fresh-scrubbed face. Whatever mood had possessed her last night that led to her shutting him out had passed.
She whistled. “While I sure enjoy the view, I’m almost certain Amit will not appreciate your nakedness. Put some clothes on and come down here for some coffee. I’d offer you breakfast, but I don’t have anything—unless you’d like some oatmeal.”
He narrowed his eyes at her long-windedness—almost as if she were trying to distract him from something.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, about those clothes. They’re the same ones I’ve had on for two days now. I need to drop by my hotel and get my suitcase if I’m going to camp out at your place.”
“And you still manage to smell great.”
Okay, now she was just buttering him up, and he decided to pop her bubble of effusiveness. “Any news? Get any messages...from anyone?”
“Nope. Cedar is being as elusive as he was yesterday.” She wandered out of his view, back into the kitchen.
“And Olaf?” He held his breath and listened for the tiniest exhalation of air or the slightest hitch in her voice.
“Nothing. Nada. Zilch.”
He retreated into the bedroom and pulled on his boxers and jeans from yesterday. He sniffed the T-shirt, shook it out and pulled it over his head in resignation.
Heading down the stairs, he almost collided with Amit at the bottom, which would’ve been a bad thing. The guy could barely walk upright without wincing with each step.
“Whoa.” Gray grabbed the bannister and backtracked up a step. “You feeling better? You’re up and about.”
Amit tried to raise one shoulder and gave up. “My ribs still hurt like hell, but my head is now just a dull, throbbing mass of pain.”
“That sounds...great.”
“But I’m determined to get out of here today. I can’t stay holed up like a rat clutching a gun in Jerrica’s apartment while you two run around and try to save the world.”
Jerrica poked her head around the corner, coffee pot in hand. “I told Amit we could get him to Kelly in Boston safely. We can do that, right?”
“Sure.” Gray eyed Amit’s lanky form as he folded it into a chair at the kitchen table. “But we need to send him off with a decent breakfast. We hardly fed him last night. Man does not live by veggie burger alone.”
“Jerrica, I don’t know where you got the idea I was vegetarian. Just because I’m Indian?” Amit wrapped his hand around the coffee mug Jerrica had placed before him. “Man, I could use some bacon and sausage.”
Jerrica put a hand on her hip. “I’m sticking to my oatmeal, but there’s a bodega down the street, on the corner. Maybe Gray could run over there and pick up some groceries for breakfast—if you think it’s safe.”
“Sure.” Gray pulled his socks from inside his boots and sat down. “I can use the alley entrance—and check for more messages.”
Jerrica opened a cupboard and stuck her head inside. “You do that, and Amit and I will plot out his escape to Boston.”
Gray left the two hackers, heads together over Jerrica’s laptop. It looked like they were doing more than making travel plans. He hoped to God they were figuring out a program to decipher the code. They needed answers.
He followed the now-familiar path down to the basement and checked the metal door where Cedar had left his message yesterday. What did Cedar know about Olaf that Jerrica refused to consider?
The sun blinded him as he stepped outside, and he blinked against the light. He made a quick trip to the store and picked up eggs, bacon, potatoes, milk and orange juice, the entire time his head on a swivel.
Had the enemy given up stalking Jerrica’s apartment building? They hadn’t given up trying to get to her, but an abduction off the street might be too much—even for them. Or would it? The gunman in the park had been willing to whip out a weapon and...do what? Had he intended to shoot to kill, or to snatch her?
Gray bagged his own groceries and headed outside. He stood on the sidewalk for several seconds to assess his surroundings and the people around him. Nobody hesitated. Nobody looked his way.
It was not him they wanted, but the bad guys played dirty and they wouldn’t be above using him to get to Jerrica, just like they’d used Russell. They’d be barking up the wrong tree on that one—Jerrica wouldn’t give up anything to protect him and he wouldn’t allow it, even if she wanted to save him.
He ducked into the alley and waited by the door to make sure nobody had followed him. When he returned to the apartment, Jerrica and Amit had good news.
“The translation program just finished. We now have real words in place of the gobbledygook. We just have to figure out what these words mean.” She and Amit high-fived.
“You can’t write a computer program for that, can you?”
“Not exactly, and we can’t turn it over to people who might be able to do it. Hello, I work for Dreadworm. I’ve been hacking into your computers illegally for years. Can you do some decoding for me now?” She shook her head. “How can we turn this over to someone without getting into trouble?”
“I’ll feel out my dad this weekend.”
“In the meantime...” She swooped toward him and snatched a bag from his hand. “We’d better get on this—breakfast, I mean. Amit’s starving and he has a flight to Boston to catch.”
“Is that going to be safe for him? Any ticket purchased in his name might trigger a response from these people.”
“Terrorists.” Jerrica pulled the eggs from the bag and held them in the air. “These are terrorists, Gray, whether or not they’re members of the government.”
“You’re right. Even more reason to be concerned about Amit’s safety.”
Amit waved his hand. “I have my alternate ID at the Dreadworm office. I kept it there because I never believed I’d need it.”
“Alternate ID?” Gray joined Jerrica in her small kitchen and asked for a skillet.
Amit wedged his hip against the sofa. “Olaf insisted. We all have fake IDs in different names—driver’s licenses, social security cards, even birth certificates. We can get bank accounts, credit cards, passports and airline tickets. Luckily I remembered my fake name, and we booked a flight to Boston for my alter ego.”
Jerrica opened the package of bacon and handed it to Gray. “Now we just have to go to Dreadworm and pick up his ID.”
Gray asked Jerrica, “You have one of those alternate IDs, too?”
“Of course. Haven’t used it yet.”
“Hope you never have to.”
Jerrica packed a small bag for Amit with a few essentials to take on the plane, so he wouldn’t be traveling and arriving in Boston empty-handed. They sneaked him out the back way and traveled a few blocks before ordering a car from Jerrica’s phone.
Gray insisted on stopping by his hotel so he could pick up some clothes of his own, and he ended up stuffing a few of his shirts into Amit’s bag.
When they reached the general neighborhood of the Dreadworm office, Jerrica ordered the driver to pull over. The three of them navigated their way to the office in broad daylight, and the lack of a tail worried Gray almost as much as having to lose one.
Jerrica flashed her card at the card reader and waited for the click.
Gray opened the door and hustled Jerrica and Amit into the small area at the bottom of the stairs. He pulled the door shut and kept an eye on the video of the alley.
“Me first.” He tugged on Jerrica’s shirttail and squeezed past her and Amit on the staircase. He didn’t need the jacket today, but he’d worn it to stash his weapon in the pocket. He traced the gun’s comforting outline of smooth wood inlaid in cold, hard metal and clumped up the rest of the steps.
If someone were waiting for them they would’ve come out with guns blazing long before now, so no need for stealth. But he still felt the desire to stand between Jerrica and the unexpected.
As Gray reached the office floor, the whirring and buzzing of the computers greeted him. Then his heart slammed against his ribcage, and he jerked the gun from his pocket.
