Techno Crazed (Hacked Investigations) (8 page)

Hannah looked at Ian, unable to find words.

Ian sat up on his bedroll and sipped his coffee.

“There might be a chance of her being alive and outside all of this mess, you know. We need to look into this.” Hannah shuffled through the papers they had arranged on the floor.

“But if she’s outside of this mess, maybe we would be doing more harm than good by seeing her.” Yet even as he said it, he knew they had to know more about the woman. If she could spread some light on what Rich had done in his last days, they had a better chance of getting out of this situation alive, and not behind bars.

CHAPTER TEN

They arrived outside a Victorian style home in the wealthier section of the city. The driveways were neat and lined with small bushes and floral decorations that somehow managed to survive in the acidic rains every year. Genetic enhancements tended to make the surface of the plants excrete very strong base material that soaked up the acidity with no problem. The fake granite walkways leading to each house and garage along the road spoke of wealth, but also durability and long-term investment.

Two cars were parked outside Rich’s home. One Ian recognized as Rich’s old Toyota, but the new sports car was unfamiliar. Ian spotted someone walking around inside the house. They knocked on the door and waited.

A man in his early thirties opened the door dressed in a black suit with earrings and three rings on each hand. The muscles bulging beneath his shirt spoke of a very active fitness life, but the lack of overall density betrayed that most of his bulk had been gained at the gym, not by hard work.

“Yes?” he asked, obviously annoyed by the interruption.

“I’m sorry, but do you know Rich Granger?” Ian took a sidelong glance at Hannah.

“Yes, I do. The question is, handsome, how do you know him?” The strange man raised his eyebrow, sizing up Ian from head to toe.

“I used to work with him. He called my girlfriend and said he wanted to talk about something. Now we can’t get ahold of him. The name’s Ian, by the way.” He didn’t trust the new face he hadn’t expected.

“Leon. I haven’t seen him for a while. Why don’t you come on in? I want to hear more about this phone call. To be honest, I’m a little worried about my sweetie.” Leon opened the door and let them enter.

Once inside, Ian saw that the main hallway branched into four different sections to different areas of the large house. The white walls contrasted with the sand-brown tile on the floor, creating a sensation of being closer to the ocean than they were. Leon closed the door behind them and led them into a vast living room. The brown leather furniture was arranged around a fireplace. The latest tech-wall projected outside temperature and other important information. The expensive electronically enhanced wallpaper, laid on top of copper netting, made the wall act as a huge touch screen monitor, thus providing the owner the sensation of more “integrated” living with technology.

Ian could almost laugh at the idea. He experienced a much more vivid connection with even the most archaic technology he’d touched. But the tech-wall was great for those who refused to plug themselves into the Internet or didn’t like adding extra chips under their skin.

Sitting on the couch, he sank deep into its comfortable clutches.

Leon sat across from them in a leather chair close to the fireplace. On the mantle were photographs taken through the years. Looking closer, it became evident why Rich had been so quiet about living with someone.

“So, you two were a couple?” Ian asked, pointing to the pictures.

“Yes. Although he never wanted to make us public. We lived our lives together, but never in the public. He spoke of his work occasionally, but obviously, he didn’t speak of me at work. How did you find out about me?” Leon looked between them curiously.

“To be honest, we thought he was living with someone. Rich is… err… I’m sorry to inform you that he’s dead.” She frowned, hating that she had to do this to Leon. “We were on the phone at the time. He was giving me information on MAX Home Security, which cost him his life. They nearly killed me too.” Hannah sighed. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Tears welled up within Leon’s wide eyes. “I told him not to go forward. Why didn’t he listen to me?” He rested his head in his hands. “I saw your faces on the news yesterday. Normally, I’d call the cops, but MAX is involved.” Drawing in a breath, he raised his gaze to meet theirs again. “I doubt you two beat up that senator, right?”

“No, we didn’t.” Ian leaned back and crossed his legs. “We all, I believe, want MAX buried and closed. The senator won’t be able to speak openly, we can’t get close enough to speak with him, and MAX is everywhere. Now they have the police on our case too. We don’t have anything to support our side of the story.”

Determination flared up on Leon’s face. “No, that’s not true. You have me. I know the senator pretty well. And tend to him regularly. If you want me to give him a message, it won’t be a problem.” He squeezed his eyes closed, causing a tear to fall. “How did Rich die?”

Hannah described the alley and the distance Rich had pulled himself along the dirty pavement before meeting his untimely demise behind the bar.

Leon paled and rose from the chair. He went to the kitchen and returned with a glass and a bottle of whiskey. “I tried to save this fifteen-year-old for later. Rich liked whiskey and beer, but a true rare single-malt with a hint of smoky flavor, this was going to be a gift for him whenever he quit the job at MAX. Please, if you want me to deliver any message to the senator, write it down.” He took a long sip from the glass.

Hannah pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a short message. Trust Leon. We’re doing what we can to help bring them down. They didn’t have a choice right now, either. Leon had both the access and the motive to help them out. Not only was it important that they were able to reach the senator, but later down the road, they needed support against the accusations made by other parties.

Ian asked to use the restroom and left the living room as guided by Leon’s directions. In the restroom, he cleared his mind and placed his hands on a small computer monitor that was meant for monitoring the temperature of water going to the shower.

The device was pretty basic, holding connections to various other systems in the house. Power management, measuring instruments on the side of the water tanks below, maintenance codes for updating the firmware that ran the system, and an Internet connection for remote updates.

Smiling about the slight inconsistencies of the building, he tapped into the main server monitoring the entire house, which also provided services like the tech-wall and Internet, and wrote a short script to run constantly in the background. Hidden deep inside the now-updated kernel was a bugging code, making the entire building a huge microphone for those who knew how to use it.

Flushing the toilet and then washing his hands, he thought about the possibility of Leon double-crossing them, which was unlikely. Yet, he wanted to be sure.

Downstairs, he heard Leon and Hannah talking quietly about something, which made her blush. Coughing, he walked downstairs and helped Hannah up from the couch.

“Once again, I’m sorry for your loss, Leon. This problem has been hard on us all, but I cannot imagine how it must feel to lose someone you love. We both appreciate the help and support. I just hope this is over with soon,” Hannah said.

Leaving the house, Ian looked back and saw Leon turn to look at one of the pictures and slump his shoulders. Ian wasn’t an emotional person, but he still understood the pain Leon felt. Hannah had already started walking along the trails behind the houses that allowed them more cover from the eyes and cameras along the roads.

They hadn’t walked for long before Ian checked the connection back to the house. Focusing on walking with Hannah, while testing the link was relatively easy. The house server let him in without any hassle. The small microphones that used voice commands from the user to change the volume on video streams or the TV were now at his disposal.

He could hear Leon pouring himself more whiskey and muttering something. He was about to close the connection when he heard a doorbell ring.

“Hannah, let’s stop for a moment. I can walk with you while keeping my ears on the server, but I’d like to use eyes too. Our new friend Leon has a visitor,” Ian said and leaned against a nearby tree.

Hannah stood next to him, simply giving him a nod.

Ian tapped into the security cameras placed around the home and the few on the outside. The vision was initially foggy and the outline was unclear. Blinking and refocusing his eyes, he forced the camera to target the people outside the door.

A blue van had parked in the driveway; two men in black suits were knocking on the door, their arms bearing the logo of MAX Home Security.

Leon swung open the door and let the men inside. “Hello, John. I didn’t know you were in the neighborhood. What made you drop by?” he asked.

“Don’t fuck with me, Leon. Where are they? You know that those two beat up the senator and killed your little bed buddy, right?” the one he’d addressed as John said.

“Please, don’t even start with me. Those two came right in and started spewing stuff how I set them up somehow. And yeah, I’m well aware that they beat up Senator Kendall. The only reason why I didn’t bother you guys was that I needed to calm my nerves first. Those fuckers are dangerous. Besides, I’m not letting MAX claim the bounty on ‘em. Now that Rich is dead, I need all the money I can get.” Leon swayed his hips like a woman, walking to the living room and back to the whiskey bottle.

“So they left, huh? Can’t be far. Team, check the surroundings. They’re close by,” John said to a small microphone hidden at the corner of his jacket’s collar before turning back to Leon. “You know where they went?”

Leon snorted and frowned at John. “I’m not going to say a word, and I need my money.”

“You’ll get your money. Double, in fact. Want a check right now? Just tell me which way they went so that we can drag their asses to jail, you hear?” John’s face reddened.

“Write the check, then I’ll talk.” Leon took another swig of whiskey.

Muttering to himself, John returned to the van and came back a moment later with a check in hand. “Here you go. Now, which way did they go, faggot?”

“Down the road and to the east. Anyway, now you know. Get the fuck out of my house, unless you are willing to pay me extra, and I ain’t cheap.” Leon snatched the check from John’s hands and slammed the front door.

Ian grinned and disconnected from the server. “We’re good. Leon is buying us a little extra time. But we’ve got to get moving.”

* * *

They ran through the park to their new hideout. It was somewhat dark, but their charged flashlights allowed them a mostly incident-free journey back into the maintenance area, which now served as their home.

Their main living quarters area was quiet. Ian cautiously walked around, suspecting a trap, but they finally found Bernard in the back, looking over an oddly misshapen plant.

“Asshole, straighten up. I planted you, a good seed, this is good ground. And you have to mutate here in the dark,” Bernard was yelling at the plant at irregular intervals, unaware that they had gotten back.

Hannah grabbed Ian’s hand and led him toward the bedroom area. Her breath was still coming out in shallow pants. Then again, neither of them had much reason to do as much running recently than they’d done in a while. It was pretty natural.

Bernard started chanting in his old gnome language, and not very quietly.

Ian sealed off the small sleeping quarters and turned back to see Hannah dropping her skirt to the ground. Desire roiled within him at the sight of her luscious legs and thighs.

She lifted off her shirt, and he nearly moaned at the creamy flesh waiting for him to taste. Beckoning him to do so.

He crossed the distance between them and grabbed her into his arms. He kissed her mouth fiercely and ran his fingers along her flesh, savoring the warm, soft skin. Her arms circled his neck, and he pulled her closer, lifting her up and pressing her against the wall. He’d yearned to be able to take her, and now he had gotten that chance twice. He ran his lips down to her neck and throat.

She caressed the back of his head in a way she’d done previously in their relationship. A move that melted him without much thought.

He unsnapped the front clasp of the bra, thankful for this contraption. He didn’t really mess with women’s lingerie much. He ran his hands over her soft breasts and marveled at them before bending his lips to taste them.

He pulled her away from the wall and walked over to his bedroll. He carefully got down on his knees and laid her on it, staring down at her beautiful body.

She grabbed at his shirt and tugged it over his shoulders. Her hands trailed down his chest until they rested on his belt. She unfastened it and unbuttoned his pants, then tugged down the zipper.

Fire burned in her eyes as she pulled at the hem of his jeans. He grabbed her hands and pushed them over her head with one hand, then leaned back to slip on a condom before returning between her legs. Intensity burned inside him to take her. To satisfy her. He wanted her to scream his name, even if it might draw the attention of the gnome. Err, okay, maybe not that. Pushing inside her, he felt the wet warmth of her core clench around him.

She grabbed him by the neck and tugged his head down to kiss his mouth, suppressing urgent moans while her body arched up to meet him stroke for stroke. Her hands trailed to his shoulders, and she dug her nails in slightly. That small bite of pain had him surging inside her, taking her completely.

Groaning, he thrust his cock into her harder, faster until they climbed toward climax. He pressed his lips against hers, catching her screams. Trailing his hand between them, he cupped her breast, thumbing her perky nipple until her body quieted.

“Oh, God. I love you,” she whispered, her breath coming out in pants.

He froze and blinked, staring at her for a moment. Had she really said that? He’d wanted to have a family to love and take care of for a long time. He’d finally gotten his wish. Now if only he could protect her long enough to make it last. “I love you, too.”