Black Pawn (Michael Cailen Book 1) (43 page)

“Michael, I'm scared.”

“I know baby, just trust me.  Put
your head down and close your eyes.”

“I won't see him if he's coming at
me.”

“You'll hear him.  Just do it.”

She closed her eyes and put her
head down trying to imagine she was somewhere else.  It felt like an eternity
passed when, in reality, it was probably only a few minutes.  She heard his
footsteps again.  They were moving away.  She looked up just in time to see him
getting into his car.  He drove down the road and out of sight.

“He left,” she said, feeling only
mildly relieved.

Michael took a deep breath and
closed his eyes.  “Stay put.  He might come back.”

“Okay.”

“Tell me what happened.”

She sniffled and wiped her eyes. 
“He called me this morning.  Said he had a problem with a program he was
working on.  He wanted to come to the house but I said I would meet him at a
coffee shop.  So we met and I figured out what was wrong.  When I went to
leave, my car wouldn't start and he offered to give me a ride home.  After I
was in his car he asked if he could stop by his mother's first and I said
okay.  Next thing I know I'm in the middle of nowhere and he ...”  She started
crying again.

“Did he say anything to you?”

“I don't know.  Like what?”

“Anything.”

She thought for a minute.  “He said
I was prettier than he thought I would be.”

“Were those his exact words?”

“Yeah.  He said 'You know, you're
a lot prettier than I thought you would be.'  He also said you would never know
what happened to me and that he hopes you go after him.”  She broke down once
more.

“It's okay.  Nothing's going to
happen to you.”

“He has my purse, Michael.  My
wallet, credit cards, the house keys ...”

“Don't worry about that.  He'll
ditch it the first chance he gets, if he hasn't already.”

“How do you know that?”

“It's physical evidence tying him
to you.  He won't want it anywhere near him,” Michael assured her.

That made sense to her.  “I'm
scared, Michael.”

“I know baby.” 

Martin and Josh were anxiously and
nervously watching Michael pace the room wondering what was happening. 

“How am I going to get away from
him?” she asked.

“You're going to call the police. 
You should be able to see from your phone's GPS where you are but if not they
can track your phone's signal to find you and you'll be safe.”

“What if he finds me first?”

“He won't find you.  You're like a
needle in a haystack.  He will eventually give up and before you know it the
police will be there and you'll be safe.  Do you want to call them now?”

“No, I want to stay with you.”

“Okay sweetheart.  I'm right
here.”  He could hear her quietly weeping.  “I love you.”

“I love you too, Michael.  So
much.”

Michael closed his eyes again and
ran his fingers through his hair.  Josh and Martin were ready to come out of
their skin.   He could see their concern and pulled the phone away from his
mouth giving them a rundown of what happened.  They were both stunned.

“Who arrived at the cafe first?”
Martin asked.

Michael passed the question along
to Jessica.  “She did,” he answered Martin.

“He sabotaged her car, Michael,”
said Martin.  “She was set up.  I bet the problem he needed help with was
really simple too.”

“What was wrong with the program?”
Michael asked her.

“He used the wrong punctuation in
a line of coding,” she answered.

Michael nodded at Martin.  He
wasn't sure what was happening or why, but there were too many things happening
at once to be purely coincidence.  “Josh, is Jinx working today?”

Jinx was Josh's girlfriend and
Jessica's best friend.  Her real name was Jasmine Flores, but her friends
called her by her screen name, Jinx.  She was a hacker, like Jessica, and had
recently gotten a job, with Michael's help, using her skills for the FBI.

“Yeah, she is,” Josh replied.

“Jess, what's Ben's last name?”
Michael asked.

“Tucker.”

He turned back to Josh.  “Call Jinx
and see what she can find out about a Benjamin Tucker who works at Gen Tech.”

“I'm on it.”  Josh pulled his
phone from his pocket and started dialing.

“What are you doing?” Jessica
asked.

“I'm gonna find out who this guy
is,” Michael said.  “You should call the police now so they can find you.  Call
me back after you do.”

“Okay.”  She wiped tears from her
eyes.  “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She hung up the phone and dialed
911.

While she was calling the police,
Jinx called Josh back.  He listened to her for a minute then took a deep breath
and looked at Michael.

“You should hear this.”  He handed
Michael the phone.

Michael put it to his ear.  “What
do you have?”

“Hi, Michael.  I did some digging
into this guy.  At first glance everything seems legit.  There are even tax
records going back seven years.  But when I compare employment records with the
companies he's supposedly worked for, they don't match.  With the exception of
Gen Tech, there is no record of a Benjamin Tucker working at any of them.  I
checked his prior residences and according to his record, he lived in a two-bedroom
apartment the same time as a family of four.”

“His record is forged,” Michael
stated the obvious.

“Yes.  I have no idea who this guy
really is.  And there's something else.”

“What is it?”

“He's only been working at Gen
Tech for the past three months.  The man who had his position prior to him
disappeared four months ago.  No one knows what happened to him.”

Michael was starting to get a
horrible feeling about what was happening.  “I need a favor, Jinx.”

“Whatever you need, Michael.”

“I need you to send someone to
pick up Jessica from the police station.  I'll find out which one and call you
back.  I don't want her in the hands of local PD.”

“I'll have someone ready.”

“Thanks.”  Michael hung up the
phone and looked at Josh and Martin.  His stress level was at an all-time high.

Chapter 5

Jessica related everything that
happened to the 911 operator.  The woman was at first dubious of her story but
soon realized it was no hoax.  Two cars were dispatched to the area to search
for her.  The operator told Jessica to let her know the minute she spotted one
of the cars.  She anxiously watched the road hoping to see a police car.

“I see one!” she finally
exclaimed.

The operator told the officers to
stop.  Jessica went to them, putting her shirt back on along the way.  She
tearfully thanked the operator for staying with her then hung up the phone. 
The officers asked her what happened.  She said she would tell them but right
now she just wanted to get out of there.  They put her in the cruiser and
started driving back to the station.  She dialed Michael who had been waiting
for her call and getting nervous it was taking so long.  He breathed a sigh of
relief when his phone finally rang.

“Hey baby,” he answered.  “You
okay?”

“Yes, I'm in a police car heading
to the station now.”  She sniffled and wiped her eyes.

“Good.  Jinx is going to have
someone pick you up.”

“What did she find out?”

Michael wasn't sure he wanted to
tell her.  She was frightened enough already.  He didn't want to make it worse.

“Michael?  What is it?” Jessica
grew more anxious.

He figured she'd find out sooner
or later.  She might as well know what she's dealing with.  “We don't know who
he really is.  Ben Tucker was invented.  Probably three months ago, when he
started working for Gen Tech.  The man who worked there before disappeared.”

Jessica started shaking again and
her heart began to race.  “Oh my God.”

The officer driving glanced at
her.  “What is it?”

She looked at him and shook her
head.  She continued talking to Michael. “What do I do?”

“I'll tell you what you do not
do.  You do not go home, you do not go near your car, and you do not go to any
friends.  You need to drop off grid.  Jinx can get you some protection until I
arrive.  But you need to lay low.”

“What am I supposed to...”  She
couldn't finish the sentence.

“Tell the police?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell them what happened, they'll
do their job, they won't find anything but that's not your concern.  Don't use
your real name obviously.  Use our cover name.”

“Okay.”  She was quiet for a few
seconds.  “Did you find Katie?”

“Yeah.  We'll be getting on a
plane in four hours.”

“Good.  I'm glad.”

“There is something else you're
going to have to do.  It's very important,” he said.

“What is it?” she asked.

“You need to get rid of your
phone.  Leave it at the police station.”

“Alright.  But I can still call
you?”

Michael knew she was going to have
a problem with the next part.  “No.  I need to get rid of mine too.  I don't
know who this guy is or what he's after, but we can't take the risk of being
traced through our phones.”

“So I won't be able to reach you
at all?”

Michael could hear the distress in
her voice.  “Sweetheart, I will be by your side in less than twenty four
hours.  I'll be on a plane in four hours, you wouldn't be able to call me
anyway.”

“I wish you were here,” she
tearfully replied.

“I know, baby.  Me too.  I love
you, Jess.”

“I love you too, Michael.”

“Are you almost there?”

She looked up.  “Pulling in now.”

“Okay.  Time to say goodbye.”

Her lips started trembling and her
hands shook as tears streamed from her eyes.  “Goodbye.”  She barely got the
word out.

Michael hung up the phone to spare
her from having to do it.  He sat on the edge of the bed and clutched his head. 
He was in just as much agony over the situation as Jessica, maybe even more
so.  He told Josh to call Jinx and let her know what police station they were
taking her to.  Michael dismantled his phone and tossed it in his bag.  Martin,
Josh and Michael each took a few of the girls and spent the next few hours
escorting the women to the appropriate consulates and embassies.  They
instructed the women to leave them out of their story to the authorities.  They
were to say they all escaped on their own.  The guys didn't want any extra
attention.

JESSICA SPENT
the next half hour answering questions about Benjamin
Tucker and the events that transpired that day.  It was being treated as a
kidnapping and attempted sexual assault.  The police went to Ben's apartment
but he wasn't there.  They stationed someone outside to wait for him to come
home, which wasn't likely to happen.  The other patrol car found Jessica's
purse about a mile from where she was picked up.  To her relief, nothing was
missing.

She was sitting in an office
talking to one of the detectives, still answering questions when a uniformed
officer came in the room and whispered something to the detective.  He gazed at
the officer with a look of confused disbelief.  “Are you serious?”  The officer
just shrugged.  The detective looked back at her.  “Someone from the FBI is
here for you.”

She tried to look surprised but
wasn't very convincing.  Before the detective could say anything else a tall
man dressed sharply in a black suit and white shirt stepped in the room.  He
introduced himself as Special Agent Lance Corvo.  He was very handsome with
short brown hair and piercing blue eyes.  He reached out his hand to Jessica. 
She shook it and introduced herself.

Corvo looked at the detective and
officer in the room.  “If there are no further questions, we'll be on our way.”

“Why is the FBI involved?”  the
detective asked.

Corvo just smiled and turned to
Jessica.  “My car is outside.”

She smiled nervously at the police
as she stood up and then followed Agent Corvo out of the room and through the
station.  On their way out, she slipped her phone from her pocket and
discreetly left it on one of the desks as she passed by.  As they stepped
outside, Corvo seemed distracted.  He kept looking around as they walked as if
he were looking for something or someone.

“So what exactly did they tell
you?” Jessica asked as they continued to the car.

“That you need protection and
there's a possibility you're being followed.”

“Is that all?”