Involuntary Control (Gray Spear Society) (8 page)

"We'll sneak across the back yards," Marina said. "Stay out of the light and don't make any noise. Watch out for dogs. I'll take the lead."

She slipped out of the car and sprinted through a side yard. She didn't stop moving until she was safely concealed by a bush behind a house.

Smythe followed close behind and joined her without making a sound. Norbert, on the other hand, was late to the party. He stood in the middle of the back yard and looked around with an anxious expression. He obviously had no idea where his teammates were hiding.

Marina worked her way around the yard, sliding from shadow to shadow. When Norbert was looking the wrong way, she came up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He spun around. He reflexively tried to strike her, but she swept his attack aside and threw him to the ground with a hip toss.

"That was pathetic," she whispered to him. "Next time, keep up with the group. This isn't practice."

She waited for him to get back on his feet before moving on. The whole team proceeded through the back yards of several houses.

They arrived at the blue house with the computer equipment inside. Yellow police tape sealed the back door.

"What's the plan?" Smythe said.

"This time we'll bring the hacker to us," Marina said. "Stay here."

She went to the outdoor electricity meter for the house. There was a master switch, but it was held in place with a padlock. It took thirty seconds for her to open the lock with her picks. She pulled the switch, cutting off power for the entire house.

She hurried back to Smythe and Norbert. All three of them climbed a tree and stood on the branches. The gently swaying leaves provided ideal cover.

Marina knew it was just a matter of time before the hacker came to investigate the loss of electricity. His precious equipment could probably run on batteries for a while, but eventually, the batteries would die. She would wait for as long as it took.

Twenty minutes later, a thin figure crept towards the house. It was a young woman. She passed through a shaft of light, and Marina glimpsed tanned skin and long, black hair with a slight wave. She was so skinny she looked frail. She carried a kitchen knife in her right hand, but her grip was so awkward the weapon was effectively useless.

Marina dropped out of the tree without making the slightest noise.

The woman opened the back door of the house. She reached through the police tape and tried a light switch, but of course, nothing happened. She walked around to the meter. After staring at the main power switch for a long moment, she pushed it back up. The lights in the kitchen came on.

Marina walked up behind her. When the woman turned around, Marina slapped the knife away. Marina grabbed her wrist and twisted hard, forcing the woman to bend over and face the ground.

"What's your name?" Marina whispered.

The woman whimpered.

"Name!" Marina tightened her grip.

"Ah!" the woman gasped. "I'm Leanna."

Marina marched Leanna over to the tree. Smythe and Norbert dropped to the ground.

"Hold her arms," Marina said to Smythe. "Let me search her."

He grabbed Leanna's wrists and held them straight over her head. Compared to his muscular bulk, she looked like a scrawny child. She wore a white shirt and a pleated, red skirt made of cotton. Her clothes were wrinkled and had unsightly stains. Her bare feet had overgrown, dirty toenails. The dark color of her skin and the shape of her face suggested Middle-eastern heritage. She could've been pretty if she had paid any attention to personal hygiene.

Marina quickly searched Leanna for weapons, starting at her neck and working down to her ankles. Leanna wasn't just skinny, she was malnourished. Marina could feel every rib under her shirt, and her hips had almost no meat on them.

Marina completed her search and found that Leanna was carrying nothing at all.

"She's clean," Marina said. "More or less."

Smythe relaxed a little but didn't let go of Leanna's wrists. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and her whole body heaved. Her eyes were wide with fear.

"Calm down," Marina said.

"You're going to kill me," Leanna cried.

Marina looked around. They were making too much noise.

"You'll be fine if you answer my questions truthfully. Stop crying, please. We're not your enemy. We just want to talk."

Leanna sniffled loudly. Marina waited until she settled down.

"We're looking for a hacker," she said. "A very special, very smart one. The computer equipment in that house is his. You must know something about it."

Leanna squeezed her eyes shut and forced out more tears.

Marina drew a dagger and placed the point against Leanna's skinny neck. "I'm not known for patience. Start talking, now."

"It's me." Leanna opened her bloodshot eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm the hacker."

"Huh?" Marina stepped back. "You're behind all this?"

Leanna nodded quickly.

Marina stared in disbelief. She had expected a shaggy, overweight man with intense body odor. Instead, the hacker was a fearful little woman who desperately needed fresh laundry, a pedicure, and a hot meal. Leanna was as threatening as a hamster.

"Prove it," Marina said. "Who is Craig Pearce?"

"A lawyer. I paid him 320,000 dollars to sue White Flame Technology."

"That's right." Marina paused to reassess the situation. "Where do you live? What house?"

Leanna chewed her lip.

Marina whispered into her ear, "If you keep making me repeat my questions, the consequences for you will be painful and tragic." She stroked the edge of her dagger.

Leanna swallowed. "Over there." She nodded towards a white house next door. The lights were on inside, an encouraging sign.

"Let's go," Marina said.

The whole group walked over to the house. There was a back door but it was closed. Marina examined the door for traps or alarms.

"Will anything bad happen when I open this?" She faced Leanna. "Well?"

Even though the night was warm, the frail girl was shivering. Marina felt a little sorry for her.

"There's a keypad under the flowerpot," Leanna said.

A flowerpot containing a wilted daisy stood on a wooden shelf attached to the wall. Marina lifted the pot to expose a white, numeric keypad.

"Combination?"

"2, 3, 5, 7," Leanna said. "The prime numbers."

Marina widened her eyes in surprise. The Spears used the same combination on their vehicles and safe houses.

She punched in the numbers and something clicked behind the door. She opened it easily.

She readied her gun and cautiously walked into a small kitchen. A surveillance camera looked down from a corner of the ceiling, and a little red light on the front flashed.

She proceeded into the next room. "My God," she whispered.

Several narrow tables formed a big rectangle with open space in the center. Dozens of computer monitors stood on the tables and faced inwards. An abundance of keyboards and mice completed the largest computer workstation Marina had ever seen. It looked big enough for ten hackers instead of just one.

Bundles of wires ran to a wide assortment of computers placed along the walls. The cables formed a net that covered the entire floor. Every wire went straight across, making it difficult to walk through the room without stepping on them. The hum from the fans was annoyingly loud, and the air smelled of ozone.

"I'd say we found our hacker," Smythe said.

Norbert stepped carefully over the wires. He looked between the tables and said, "There are two chairs here."

"Two?" Marina turned to Leanna. "Either you have two asses, or you failed to mention you have a partner. Where is he?"

"I don't know." Leanna sniffled.

Marina drew a gun, placed it under the girl's sharp chin, and cocked the hammer. "I need a more informative answer."

"I don't know! She ran away, I guess."

"She?"

"My sister," Leanna said, "Bethany."

Norbert took a framed photograph from the desk and handed it to Marina. The picture showed two girls wearing princess costumes in front of a castle backdrop. They were perfectly identical.

"Twins," Marina said softly. "Two hackers for the price of one."

Leanna began to sob. Smythe still held her wrists, so all she could do was stand there as tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Please let me go!" she wailed. "Don't hurt me. We're not bad people. We didn't do anything wrong!"

"What about all the money you stole?" Marina said.

"We needed it to fight White Flame."

"We're going to have a very detailed conversation about that subject in a moment. Smythe, help me search this place first. Norbert, watch her carefully. If she gets away, I'm holding you responsible."

Smythe forced Leanna to sit on the floor facing the wall. Norbert stood guard over her, but he didn't draw a weapon. Marina frowned but didn't bother to correct him.

Marina began to search the house. She went into a bedroom that had one king sized bed. There were two pillows and two identical night stands. She opened up a dresser and found one drawer completely full of white shirts. The drawer below contained only pleated red skirts, and the last drawer held underwear. There were no socks or bras.

She checked the closet. It was completely empty except for two pairs of black dress shoes that looked new.

She sniffed the air. The room smelled of dirty laundry. A basket in the corner held more white shirts and red skirts. She couldn't find any weapons or other items of interest, so she moved on.

She went into the bathroom. Two hairbrushes, two toothbrushes, and two tubes of toothpaste were laid out neatly and symmetrically. A perfectly stacked pyramid of spare toilet paper rolls stood on the back of the toilet. The toilet bowl really needed to be scrubbed. There were two towels, and Leanna and Bethany's names were written on the wall above in permanent marker. The towels were folded with mirror symmetry.

Marina went back to the kitchen. She checked the cupboards and found bottles of vitamins and supplements but not much else. The refrigerator held only jugs of distilled water. The freezer was packed with two kinds of frozen dinners: chicken and beef.
Finally, some variety,
Marina thought.

Smythe entered the kitchen with a worried look.

"I'm starting to question the mental health of our new friend," Marina said.

He nodded. "I'm not a psychiatrist, but my diagnosis would be Asperger syndrome."

"What's that?"

"A mild form of autism characterized by obsessive, repetitive behavior. It's clear these women are barely functional as adults. I don't know how they've managed to survive on their own."

"They certainly don't feed themselves properly," she said. "Leanna is just skin and bones."

"I saw two bedrooms, but it's obvious the twins are only using one. The other bedroom is furnished though. Maybe somebody else used to take care of them."

"Let's find out."

Marina went back into the room with all the computers. The difference in air temperature was startling.

Norbert was sitting on the floor and holding Leanna against his chest. She really looked like a child in his arms. The girl was still crying but not as hysterically as before.

"What the hell are you doing?" Marina said.

"She's terrified," Norbert said.

"I like my prisoners to be terrified. The interrogations are much quicker and more productive that way."

"Please, just give the poor girl a few minutes. Getting answers out of her won't be difficult. I promise."

Marina glared at him. His behavior was more than just counterproductive. It was dangerous. Leanna could've easily grabbed a weapon from his utility belt and turned the situation around in a heartbeat. Yet the girl appeared oblivious to the possibility. She clung to Norbert as if he were her father.

"She gets exactly five minutes," Marina said, "and if she doesn't talk, it's on you. I'll call headquarters."

She moved to the kitchen to get away from the fan noise and called Aaron.

He answered after two rings. "Hello?" he said in a sleepy voice.

"It's Marina. We have the hacker in custody."

"Go on."

She described the events of the day in as much detail as she could remember.

When she was done, Aaron said, "So, we have a couple of autistic super-hackers who are also twin sisters."

"That's right."

"This investigation keeps throwing curve balls at us. What's next? A dancing space monkey?"

"There's one other little thing," Marina said. "The combination for Leanna's security system is 2, 3, 5, 7. Isn't that crazy? It's like she's living in one of our safe houses."

He was silent.

"Aaron?"