Game of Fear (17 page)

With an exasperated sigh, he stood. “Come on.”

He led her past a bevy of kids hunkered down over their machines. They didn’t look up as she passed. Until she reached Justin. She slowed a bit. He had headphones on. His screen showed the latest version of P.O.E. He’d reached Level 65. Still had a ways to go.

Justin took his eyes off the game and, on-screen, a gun took out his player. He turned white.

Niko smacked the side of Justin’s head and yanked off his earphones. “You know the penalty for not passing a level, Mr. Connell. I suggest you focus on the game, instead of your girlfriend.” Niko glanced at his watch. “You have twelve hours to reach Level 80.”

“But . . . that took our entire team weeks.”

“Then I suggest you get started.”

Niko grabbed Ashley’s arm and yanked her from the room, then dragged her down the hall. “You think you’re so damn smart, don’t you. Well, you’re not. You have no clue what’s about to happen here. Your IQ might be high, Lansing, higher than anyone since Shannon, but smart won’t save you—” His voice trailed off. He cursed and stared at Ashley, a bleak look on his face.

“Something happened to her, didn’t it?” she said.

Niko’s jaw clenched. He led her through another door and into a new corridor she hadn’t seen before.

Ashley’s voice went low. “Like what happened to Fletcher?”

“Shannon asked too many questions. You’re so damn like her, it’s scary.” He touched the side of Ashley’s cheek, then dropped his hand. “Don’t make her same mistakes. The Warden hates you because you won’t bend to his will. You’re very close to ending up like Shannon.”

Ashley recoiled, from both his touch and the warning. God, she was scared. She’d only been here a short time, and it already felt like years. She had to find a way out for her and Justin.

Niko opened a door and the steel slam echoed, hurting her eardrums. The moment his footsteps thudded down the hall another door flew open. “Niko, the computer has a glitch. Everything is ready to go but the zip codes didn’t print.”

Ashley peeked into the room. Her eyes widened. Hundreds of express mail packages and printed labels littered several long tables, along with a stack of
Point of Entry Version VIII
games. It wasn’t supposed to hit for a month.

“If you can’t fix the problem, get a tech to come in and handle it. I don’t have time now.”

The man gestured to Ashley. “Can she do it?”

“No. She’s new. She’s not allowed to use that database.”

The guy frowned.

“Look,” Niko growled. “Tell the Warden I authorized you to use a senior tech. Then reprint the damn labels and get those games out today.”

“Right.” The man’s voice lowered. “They pulled the explosives. We almost done?”

Niko’s face paled, then he glanced at Ashley, giving the other guy a harsh look.

The man looked at Ashley with a sympathetic gaze. “Oh, right.”

That didn’t sound good. At all.

The man disappeared down the hall. Niko didn’t move for a few moments, then his jaw tightened. “Son of a bitch.”

He dragged her to another door marked Infirmary. He made her turn around so he could key a series of numbers into the panel. Once inside, he unlocked a large medicine cabinet full of grouped meds. He pulled out a small bottle of ibuprofen from among several similar-sized containers, opened it, and shook two tablets into Ashley’s hand.

“If you need more, ask.” He pocketed the bottle.

“Why can’t I just take the bottle? It’s small. With the headaches I get, I need more than two tablets, especially when I work on the computer.”

Niko shook his head as he signed out the med. “We’ve had a couple of overdoses through the years. That’s why the containers are so small. No one walks around carrying enough medicine to hurt themselves. If you need more ibuprofen, you come to me.”

He thrust a water bottle into her hand. “Now swallow the meds and get back to work. The Warden wants you into that database by tomorrow.”

“But . . . it could take weeks.”

“You don’t have weeks, Ashley. You have one, maybe two days. Time is nearly up. No more talk.”

Niko led her back through the main room, past Justin, who tensed but kept his attention on the game.

Ashley longed to stop, but didn’t dare after her last interruption.

Once she was seated, Niko bent close. “Don’t think if you fall down on the job you’ll be the only one to suffer. Justin. Your family. Everyone here will bear the consequences. I know how ruthless the Warden can be. Shannon was once a competitor and a close friend of mine. I don’t take many risks anymore. No one does. I’m trusting you to do your part.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

T
HE BELL ON
the bar’s door
jangled. Gabe sank onto a stool. “Give me a soda, Hawk. Lots of ice.”

The place was deserted. Finally.

Zach wiped his forehead. “Your job sucks, Gabe. I’m going to check on my wife.”

With a careless wave, Zach headed outside. Gabe grabbed his cell phone. He still had messages to retrieve.

He deleted the many repeats from his mother and finally started on his voice mail.

Mylo’s voice filtered through the phone.

“
Been trying to reach you all morning, man. Britney texted me. Thought you and Deb should know. Brit’s just pissed at her parents. She hates the place they moved. She wants to stay here. I’m meeting her, but it’s all top secret.
”

Mylo sighed.

“
Um . . . anyway, I’m just telling you where I’m going. As a precaution, you know. Things have been a little too weird lately
.”

“Damn it.” Gabe had a very bad feeling about this. He dialed Mylo. Straight to voice mail.

Cursing under his breath, he did a quick search and called Mylo’s mother. The kid had told her he was going to meet a friend. He’d left a few hours ago and she didn’t expect him back until later. Other than that, she didn’t have any specifics.

He was a kid. That’s probably exactly what happened.

Except Ashley’s note had seemed perfectly legit, too. Had Britney’s message to the boys been a lure? Or was she in trouble, too?

His phone rang. Wexler.

God, Gabe hoped he had some good news. “Montgomery.”

“I’m on my way to see a dead body found in the hills outside Denver. Female. Small. Right size for a teenager.”

Gabe’s cut clenched. “Ashley?”

“No identification and it’s going to be tough. The body has been decapitated. Hands are missing, too.”

Gabe’s gut heaved. This couldn’t be happening. “I’ll have to tell Deb.”

“I hate to ask, but if it’s Ashley, Deb can probably identify her. Can you bring her to the crime scene?”

“You don’t ask for much, Wexler.” Gabe kneaded the back of his neck. Once he told Deb, he wouldn’t be able to keep her away. “We’ll be there, I just have to call her.”

Wexler gave Gabe the location. “You can probably catch Deb at the station. It was all over the radio. She was attacked in her apartment and she beat the crap out of the guy. Don’t know all the details, but I heard it was one of Tower’s three musketeers.”

Gabe hung up without saying good-bye and raced across the street.

Ashley had a plan. Niko had warned her not to do anything stupid, but she wouldn’t get an opportunity like this again. The moment she sat down at her computer and fired it up, she knew what she had to do.

If she was caught, the Warden would kill her for sure, but after what she’d seen so far, she didn’t think many in this Godforsaken place would leave here alive anyway.

Pretending to bend closer to the screen to concentrate on the program before her, Ashley opened a new window in the bottom corner of her screen. Sweat trickled down her back, even with the air-conditioning in the room to keep the computers cool. If her keystrokes were still being recorded on this new machine . . . She’d just have to be smart about it. She had to take the risk.

They kept moving her around. Computer to computer. Sometimes they brought her to different rooms. Her tasks were always different, but Ashley could see how the program update was coming together.

They needed her to tunnel into the federal classified systems.

She looked around surreptitiously. No one was near.

She scanned the small box she’d pulled up. Lines and lines of code streamed past her. She typed furiously, then copied them.

Seconds later, she’d tunneled her way into the computer system. The camp’s administrative network hadn’t been that difficult to breach. It seemed too easy, but maybe they thought no one would care about mundane mail programs.

Maybe Ashley had found a vulnerability no one had considered.

Niko rose from his station.

Quickly, Ashley typed a few lines over those she’d copied. By the time he arrived, the box was closed and everything looked normal.

He walked over and studied her screen, one hand resting on her shoulder.

Ashley’s breath caught. Did he know what she’d done?

He scanned the program, then nodded. “I like the approach you’re taking. It might work.”

His hand lingered on her shoulder and she fought not to shudder. He gave her such mixed messages. Was he trying to help her, or waiting for her to screw up?

The moment he turned his back, she flicked to the other window and typed in a very familiar address, then she said a small prayer and hit “Send.”

She just prayed her sister understood.

Gabe plowed through the Jeffco Sheriff’s Office doors. “Deb Lansing? Where is she?” he called out to the deputy on duty.

Before the guy could speak, Deb strode into the main lobby, anger and frustration on her face.

“I’m right here.” She sported a nasty bruise on her cheek. She headed toward him, her tension visibly releasing with every step.

Gabe raced to her and hugged her tight. He couldn’t care less who saw them. He could have lost her. She’d been in danger and he hadn’t been there.

“Don’t do that to me again,” he whispered in her ear, then covered her mouth with his.

He pressed her close and she didn’t pull away. Instead, she nestled in and wrapped her arms around his waist. She softened against him and his world went right. He couldn’t resist, drinking in the sweetness of her. One taste, and he knew she was okay.

An awkward cough from a nearby deputy made Gabe raise his mouth.

Gabe looked into Deb’s green eyes. He traced his thumb down her reddened cheek slowly.

“Who did this to you?” he growled. “I’ll pound him into the ground.”

Deb grinned, not moving from his arms. “It’s okay, I pretty much took care of that. I used a few other street moves my brother Rick taught me before I went to Afghanistan. Menken’s not going to be walking steadily anytime soon. Injured balls and aching kidneys will do that to a guy. The concussion from having his head bounced off the floor a few times probably doesn’t help much, either.”

“Menken?” Gabe repeated. “Deputy Menken did this to you?” So, it was one of Tower’s henchmen. “What happened?”

She filled Gabe in quickly. “I don’t know if I interrupted a burglary or what. Menken hid in my hall closet, then he came out of my bedroom fighting,” Deb said. “He must’ve been all over the apartment. He tried to steal my underwear, jewelry, and a pair of red high-heel shoes.”

“So this was a burglary? A stalking? What?”

“I’m not sure. At first, I figured it had something to do with our investigation, but I don’t know. Menken is one sick puppy. The underwear proves that. The cops told me he put one pair in his pocket.” She shuddered.

Gabe gave her another hug.

She winced. “Careful, I’m sore. We had a knock-down, drag-out battle over the guns. I’m going to be black and blue all over.”

“Guns?” Gabe held her gently in his arms. “Remind me not to piss you off, Lansing.”

She smiled up at him. “Consider it done.”

She winced again, and his gut clenched. “I should have been there.”

“I’m tougher than I look.”

Gabe leaned down for another kiss. “You shouldn’t have to be.”

“Montgomery,” Tower snapped. “What the hell are you doing sucking face in here? This is a sheriff’s office, not a bedroom.”

Gabe stiffened. Keeping his arm around Deb, he slowly turned around. “Sheriff Tower, you don’t seem to have control of your staff. Is Menken just the next dirty cop to be revealed on your payroll? Like your son?”

Tower flushed. “Leave my son out of it. And nothing’s been proven. It’s her word against his. Now, get out of here, before I arrest your girlfriend for assaulting a sheriff’s deputy.”

Fighting with everything inside of him not to lay Tower out, Gabe stiffened his spine and faced the sheriff he would never respect. “Menken’s the one who broke into her apartment.”

“So she says. She could have invited him in. Seems to me she’s not too picky if she lets you paw her like that in a public place. We have names for those kinds of women.”

Deb grabbed Gabe’s arm before he could lunge at the sheriff. “Leave it. He’s not worth the fight he’s trying to provoke.”

As they turned and pushed open the door, Tower yelled, “Pussy-whipped, Montgomery? Guess being a gimp has made you chicken.”

Deb’s hands tightened on Gabe’s arm and she yanked him outside. “It’s not important.”

“God, I hate that bastard.”

Gabe stormed down the stairs, barely remembering to emphasize his limp. Deb raced to keep up.

“Forget him,” she whispered. “He’s blowing smoke. He just arrived a few minutes ago and doesn’t know about the recording.”

Gabe stopped. “What recording?”

“I called 9-1-1, then left the line open. The dispatcher has the whole thing recorded. I might take risks, but I’m not stupid.”

Hmm. Evidence had been disappearing a lot from the sheriff’s office lately. At least, if he nabbed it today, they couldn’t blame it on Wexler. He wasn’t there.

Crap. Wexler.

He turned her in his arms. “Deb?”

She met his gaze and her eyes widened. “I’m not going to like what you have to say, am I?”

Her entire body had gone taut with tension.

No way to soften the truth. “Neil called. A body was found off I-25 between here and Colorado Springs.”

Her face went gray. She shoved him away and wrapped her arms around her body. She shook her head, again and again. “No. It’s not Ashley. It can’t be.”

Gabe’s eyelids burned as he pulled Deb’s rigid body close. She didn’t break down. She didn’t cry. She was in shock.

He held her tight, knowing all he could do was be there for her.

“Is it her? Is it Ashley?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“I don’t know, Deb. I just don’t know.”

The Warden leaned back in his chair and looked across his wide expanse of desk at the man standing there, flanked by two guards. “Niko, it has come to my attention that you are spending an inordinate amount of time talking with Ashley Lansing. This disturbs me. I don’t have reason to suspect your motives. Do I?”

“No, sir.” Niko’s face was like stone, giving nothing away. “I am trying to keep her on track. Whenever she seems to slow down, I remind her of the stakes. Her performance usually improves immediately after.”

The Warden picked a piece of lint from his sleeve. “I see. So your undue interest in her has nothing to do with her striking resemblance to another girl who caught your attention eight years ago?”

The Warden watched and caught the momentary flicker in Niko’s eyes. So the man had a weakness. It could not be allowed to interfere with the plans.

“No, sir. She does resemble Shannon, but I would simply prefer not to lose another valuable asset. You gave me the job of controlling her, and I’m doing it. She’s a brilliant programmer. Her death would not help us right now.”

The Warden considered that. The man had a point, but sentiment could not be permitted in his team. “I see myself as a fair man, Niko. Floyd was beaten for talking too much to Ashley Lansing. It only seems fitting for you to share that fate. As a reminder that you are here to guard and control, no more. Step out of line, and the rules apply to you.”