Wire (Pierce Securities Book 2) (7 page)

Evan was about to lock his office door and yank out all his hair. The welcoming party wouldn’t stop trickling through, each person in the office wanting to come in and introduce themselves. Of course, sticking to the undercover script he’d never read, since Paige was avoiding him, he had to act happy to meet them all. Inviting them in and getting to know each person was mind-numbing, and his cheeks hurt from all the smiling. Nobody could be crossed off his suspect list, not based on initial appearances, and he was daunted by day’s end, to say the least.

Thursday wasn’t shaping up to be any better.

“Gene!” he called from his desk mid-morning.

Gene’s eager smile popped around the doorframe. “Yes, Boss?”

The moniker was a Paul Newman throwback that made Evan genuinely smile for once. “You can call me Evan, and please don’t let any more people in. I need to actually work for a little bit.” He kept his voice even, hoping his frustration didn’t show.

“Sure, Boss.”

“Evan,” he reminded him.

A cackle was his response as Gene firmly shut his door.

Evan heaved a sigh and lowered his face in his hands. Without talking to Paige, he wasn’t any further on this than if he’d just worked from the Pierce Securities office. He could have hacked into their HR files remotely and done all the legwork on this without the steady stream of interruptions. He was frustrated with her. Why in the hell had she hired him if she wasn’t going to talk to him?

He picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts, finding the one he needed.

“Kellog,” the tense voice on the other end of the phone rang out. Curt Kellog never sounded happy to hear from him, and Evan could understand why. Kellog was a man who needed facts and reasons, which made him a perfect FBI agent. Their relationship, though, had been instigated by a higher power, with no reasoning behind it. Kellog followed orders by working with Evan, but he didn’t know the reasons behind them, and he didn’t like it. Of course, Evan wasn’t entirely sure of the reasoning, either, except the NSA liked to keep tabs on him.

“Agent Kellog, it’s Evan Rocco. I need a favor.”

“Of course you do. I’m not in a favor mood, Rocco.”

Evan chuckled. “Are you ever?”

A long-suffering sigh eased down the line to Evan, and he grinned. “I don’t know who you blew over here, but… what’s the favor?” The man was resigned to his fate, even though he hated it.

“The Crimson Lady.”

“Fuck, you can have that one. I certainly don’t want her. That shit’s got escalation written all over it.”

Evan agreed. They were lucky nobody had been seriously injured, although the last guy was still in the hospital with his injuries. “Can you send me what you’ve got? Any suspects?”

“My money’s on Patton,” the FBI agent responded.

“Yeah, me, too, but I haven’t got anything to go on besides motive. He certainly has means and opportunity, but so do a lot of others on my list.”

Evan heard the creaking of leather on the other end of the phone as Kellog shifted positions. “Tell you what. Let’s trade. You send me what you’ve got, and I’ll email you my file.”

“You gonna actually tell me if anything fits?”

“Are you?”

“Okay, deal.”

It was a silly thing, really, this pissing contest he had going on with Kellog. They helped each other, even though neither wanted to. Kellog didn’t understand Evan was in the NSA’s pocket, and Evan didn’t know how to get out. All either of them knew was that Kellog had to give Evan anything he wanted, and Evan tried to stay under the NSA’s radar.

They’d contacted him, trying to recruit Evan after the fiasco with
TEKNIX Magazine
, offering him serious money to come work for them. He declined, and contrary to popular fiction, they were actually nice about it. So far, he hadn’t woken up with any bullets in his head, but Evan wasn’t under any illusions that they weren’t watching him closely. He just tried to use his contacts wisely, not asking for too many favors.

The NSA had given him Special Agent Kellog with the FBI and told them to work together as needed. Kellog worked on domestic computer crimes. He seemed to hate his job, but he was good at it, even though Evan was better. He had a contact at the NSA he could call for help, but it always backfired somehow. The two times he’d called in a favor with his NSA contact, he’d gotten roped into consulting jobs that took months. He wasn’t in the mood to do anything for them right now. His hands were full.

When he received the encrypted email from the FBI with the PDF files of The Crimson Lady’s case, Evan hunkered down for a couple of hours of reading. It didn’t take long for his blood to run cold.

The first victim was a homeless man, beaten senseless by Arthur Blake, a drummer in one of the local high school’s marching bands, who had failed Algebra and been prohibited from playing at the football games. This no pass, no play rule was state-wide, but hit this kid hard. After failing the class, he apparently went into a downward spiral and got suspended from school for getting caught with a baggie of weed. That wasn’t what got to Evan, though. While it was a sad story, and one that probably happened all too often, it was the ten Barbie doll heads left at the crime scene that got him. Arthur’s fingerprints were all over them, leading to a probable conviction of the youth in the crime.

The next victim was also a homeless man, who had the shit kicked out of him by a suspended student, but this time there were nine matchbooks left at the scene, with the student’s fingerprints on them.

A woman sleeping on a park bench was next, found gagged with her hands and feet tied. She, too, was beaten unconscious with a baseball bat. A high school drop-out confessed to the attack. He left eight pencils lined up in a row next to the woman.

The fourth victim was a prostitute—bound, gagged and beaten—but she was also soaked in gasoline and left on a curb on Sixth Street. Seven SIM cards were left with her. The cards belonged to an honor student who had recently been suspended for distributing pills on campus.

As Evan read, the blood drained from his head, and he could feel his heart pounding. The pattern was clear. The Crimson Lady was targeting kids who had made poor choices as well as the ‘undesirables’ of the city. A total of four attacks so far. She was leaving markers for investigators, seemingly random, yet with one clear purpose.

It was a countdown.

And his gut told him Paige was the final victim.

Slamming his laptop shut, he rose from his desk, realizing it was late. The silence which greeted him in the office told him he was one of the only ones left. Hopefully, Paige was still here.

He strode to her office, pounding on the door. “Paige?” It was locked, and he huffed in frustration. She needed to be careful. There had been four victims, which meant there were only six left to go. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t in danger yet. Whoever was behind The Crimson Lady had a plan—a plan clearly involving Paige. And without knowing what it was, he was helpless to protect her.

“Why are you yelling?” Her voice from behind him had him spinning on his heels, away from her closed office door, to find her walking toward him, looking wary, her satchel slung over her shoulder.

“I need to talk to you.” He sounded madder than he intended, and it was scaring her, but dammit, he needed to talk to her. This avoidance bullshit had to stop.

Her eyes darted down and a flush crept up her cheeks. “I-I can’t right now. I have to—”

“Dammit, Paige. This isn’t about the sex. You’re in danger.” He wanted to shake some sense into her. Whatever issues she had, he needed to get past them. Instead, he clenched his fists futilely at his side.

“I’m not in any more danger than I was yesterday. I’ve got to take my niece out tonight. I promised her. We’ll talk about this later,” she tossed out. She said the words flippantly, but the gust of breath she let out gave her away. He scared her. And he wasn’t sure why.

“Look, Paige,” he conceded, trying to lower his voice, “I’ve found the thing… the thing that police reports hold back from the media. It’s a countdown. There are going to be ten attacks, and you’re the tenth.” His eyes pleaded with her, and he watched as she almost caved, her body language leaning toward him, relaxing just a smidge.

But she stiffened and backed away a step. “Look, I’m sorry I’ve been so busy this week. We’ll talk on Monday, okay?”

“What about tomorrow? This can’t wait until Monday.” His voice lowered to a growl. He was getting angry, again, his softening short-lived.

“Seriously, I’ve got to go.” She turned and practically ran out of the office, leaving Evan completely flabbergasted.

He was trying to do the job she’d hired him to do, but her refusal to speak to him, to listen to him, was frustrating beyond belief.

He had no idea why she had hired him.

Evan decided to pack up his things and go home. He could finish looking at the FBI’s files just as easily at home as he could here.

She’d gotten distracted by Evan Rocco, and it was undoing her. She knew, deep in her heart, she should have put a stop to this Crimson Lady nonsense before it ever started, back when she was just a presence in
Realm of Worlds
. Paige had thought she was a cult phenomenon some hacker had managed to get on the server and then pushed it to the clients for the gamers to see and interact with. The skill level involved in doing something like that was the first clue she’d ignored. Paige should have dealt with her then.

But she hadn’t. She’d succumbed to fancy, letting her ego get the best of her. Paige had been tickled somebody had liked her game enough to add fan-made characters and go to the trouble of hacking her server. She hadn’t had the foresight to see the ramifications, hadn’t seen the danger.

And she’d been lost with the memories of Evan, preferring to daydream about that night rather than deal with her work problems. Now it was biting her in the ass. The Crimson Lady was using the AI against her and had attached tentacles to the servers, keeping her from dislodging her by force. Hubris was Paige’s downfall.

She needed the expert. She needed Evan.

So after extensive searching, she’d found him, and to her delight, he worked for a security company. All it took was an office visit with his boss and she had him. And now that she did, she didn’t know what to do with him.

Well, Paige knew what she
wanted
to do with him. She wanted him again. Over her, under her, didn’t matter, as long as he was in her. Avoiding him all week, since Wednesday when he’d come into the office, Paige had made herself scarce, because she couldn’t bring herself to do otherwise. She couldn’t have a legitimate conversation with the man, not without stripping him with her eyes and fucking him in her mind. It was embarrassing.

Paige was a befuddled teenager around him, barely stopping herself short of squealing like a school girl every time she saw him. And he was trying to be so serious, to talk to her about The Crimson Lady, and all she could think around him was,
Oh my God. It’s Evan Rocco, talking to me. Evan Rocco, who had amazing, unforgettable sex with me. I’ve seen him naked. Oh my God, Evan Rocco.
How childish.

Now it was Friday and she had a date with her niece for the haunted house down her street. She’d heard screams echoing from the building for a month, and it was high time she let loose and enjoyed a good scare. Her niece was the perfect excuse.

At sixteen years old, Emily was primping in Paige’s front bathroom, ready to swoon for any hot guys there, but Paige was just ready to forget about Evan Rocco and The Crimson Lady. For an hour, at least.

More like three hours. By the time they got there, the line was almost down the block, and Paige and Emily waited patiently, Emily looking around for anybody better than the old lady she was with. Paige tried not to be offended; she’d been sixteen once.

Until she saw Evan walk up behind her.

He didn’t say a word, just pierced her with his hooded gaze, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Emily nudged Paige with her elbow, but Paige ignored her, “Are you stalking me?” She was a bit unnerved by the idea he had followed her there. Certainly, working for the security company, he had the skills.

Evan let out a bark of laughter. “Are you kidding?” Turning to his companion, who Paige noticed for the first time, he continued, “Travis has been begging me to bring him here for two weeks. His driver’s license is suspended.”

“Cool…” Paige heard Emily whisper under her breath.

“Well, this is my niece, Emily. Emily, this is Evan and Travis.” Everyone nodded at each other, and Paige saw Emily flip her hair back, coolly appraising the handsome teen in front of them.

“I can’t do my job if you keep avoiding me, Paige.” He’d taken a step closer, talking in her ear so he wasn’t overheard. Evan’s voice was soft, his eyes were intense, and Paige couldn’t hold his stare.

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I’ve been real busy.” She kicked at a piece of trash on the pavement with the toe of her boot.

“I’m sure you have. CEO of a multi-million dollar game development company can be draining.” She still couldn’t look at him, but she could hear the sarcasm in his voice.