Nothing Special V, page 25
part #5 of Nothing Special Series
“Carter.” Pres placed his manicured hands on his forehead like he was scanning his brain for any memory of the name. “No one that works close to me. There could be an employee with that last name.”
“I’m looking in your company’s HR records and those of all the charities you’re on the boards of, and a few Carters are coming up, but none that I think would fit the description of a criminal. Give me a couple minutes.” Tech clicked away for another few seconds then said, “It looks like this person who got into your security system did it from an IP registered to a café. It’s owned by a Manny Carter, only a few streets away from your condo here in Atlanta. I’m still digging. I doubt the owner is the hacker. Most of the cafés in the ritzier parts of town have the newer computers with built-in cameras. Maybe he’s not as smart as he thinks and didn’t disable the camera, thinking he covered the address….”
Everyone was quiet while Tech talked them through a hacker’s mind. “He didn’t disable the camera. Image appearing in three, two, and one. On the big screen.” Tech spun around with everyone else, and a clear image of a guy in maybe his early-thirties appeared. He was Caucasian, had a plain black ball cap low on his forehead and his beady eyes constantly scanned back and forth while he worked quickly.
“He was on there for sixteen minutes, which means he’s a dabbler. Running his face through the facial recognition software now.” Tech tapped his pen on his chin while he waited. “It’ll take a while for that, maybe ten to twelve hours. There’s a ton of databases to search, not just law enforcement.”
“Oh, you are good, cutie pie,” Blair said, giving Tech a pleased stare.
“You have no idea,” Steele added, his eyes locked on Tech’s face. “Oh, you were talking about his computer skills. Sorry.”
Tech choked and turned to scowl at Steele. “Be professional,” he whispered sternly, then went back to his computer.
Day couldn’t imagine working with a better group of guys. They were definitely some characters, but they’d get to the bottom of this bullshit amateur tormenting his best friend and have him arrested in no time.
“Sounds good. Great work, Tech.” Day nodded.
“Yes, very nice work, Techy. Looks like I butted in right on time,” a slightly British-accented voice added in. The sound came from their interoffice intercom and all of them, including Pres, jumped up to look around the room, expecting someone to walk in... Or appear out of thin air.
Tech
They probably thought this was the stalker they were hunting, but they couldn’t have been more off. This was a friendly, albeit an annoying friendly, who loved to use shock factor. Tech smiled and put his hands up to settle down the team. He knew exactly who the fucker was that hacked into Tech’s own system and was communicating with them from wherever the hell he was. He’d recognize that snooty accent anywhere.
“It’s alright, guys. I know him, this is—”
Tech was cut off again. “I think you ignored something critical there, detectives. Your famous friend said he’d been receiving threats in Virginia, more personal, intimate attacks on his belongings and office, but when he came to Atlanta was the victim of a completely different form of attack. A deadly one. Who knew you were coming to Atlanta for a few days? How many people did you inform… your manager, secretary, maybe a couple others? Your entire staff wouldn’t know of one critique you were coming to do. A fan wouldn’t know that, either. Critiques aren’t announced, usually, the chef doesn’t even know when a reviewer is appearing until he or she is there. So we can ignore the employees and fans for a minute—”
“We? Tech, what the hell is going on?” God growled, cutting the speaker off.
“Hold on, God. Let him keep going,” Tech shushed God, only to be given a threatening look, but they had to know the speaker was starting to make sense.
“Thank you,” the speaker continued. “The nasty stuff was definitely related, but was merely a decoy, a distraction, you understand. To detour your thoughts from the real culprit… the mastermind. Make it look like this is someone who has a personal vendetta... a weird fan. But a weird fan doesn’t typically escalate from petty vandalism to cold-blooded murder. Who knew you were here, Mr. Vaughan?”
Pres looked at Day and when he got the nod to answer, Pres rattled off a few names. His assistant, his driver, Ric’s boss, two managers, and his business partner in the critique business. “Except for my driver and Ric’s boss, the others are right here in the Atlanta offices.”
“Dig deeper, Techy. This organizer isn’t an idiot; he’s someone with a little clout, aware of confidential comings and goings, with enough money to hire flunkies. So start from the top and work your way to the bottom,” the disembodied voice suggested.
“Okay, enough. Who are you?” Syn spoke up.
“I’m your new Tech,” the speaker announced.
“Excuse me?” God looked at Tech for answers.
“It wasn’t the introduction I was looking for, but he does like to make an entrance. God, Day, this is Lennox Freeman. He’s a technology freelancer. Free, this is the team.” Tech glanced at a still-pissed-off God and hurried to explain. “You guys only work with the best, so I found him. Syn said to get a replacement, quickly. Free prefers to work behind the scenes. You won’t find a better man – skill wise – for the job.”
“I haven’t agreed to the job, Techy. I’m simply here on a trial basis.”
“You got that right. Might be the shortest trial ever,” God said loudly.
“Do forgive my intrusion, lieutenant, just wanted to get a feel for you guys. I may be a bit daft but I’m not that bad… really. By the way, sounds like congratulations are in order on taking the vows. I do love weddings.”
Tech walked over to his station. “Free, where the hell are you?”
“I’m at the airport. I thought I’d get myself acquainted with your system, Techy, while I waited for you to pick me up. You know you always leave footprints right to you and a gaping backdoor.”
“Bullshit,” Tech blurted, still scanning his system to see where Free was hacking in from. The guy always was sneaky. “What do you mean, waiting for me?”
“I could always remote-drive your truck here. While I was having a look around your system, I noticed the Tesla autonomous software—”
“Okay, okay, shut up. I’m on my way,” Tech rushed to cut his friend off.
“I thought so. See you in twenty.” A click resounded and Tech wasn’t sure if Free was really gone or not.
Tech turned to look back at his team. They wore mixed expressions, ranging from indifferent to impressed.
“Syn said to find a replacement, and fast. Why would I bring someone in here who’d need a bunch of tutorials and training when I could bring in the man I learned from? He’s amazing, as you can see, and he happens to be available. Not only can he hack anything in the world.” Tech stressed the last word. “But he’s also smart as a whip. He was only listening for a few minutes and look at the direction he took us in.”
“I was also thinking of who else knew you were in Atlanta,” Day said, sitting back down next to Pres.
“See. Free’s mind works like that constantly. He’ll fit in. He can do the technical part of this job with his eyes closed,” Tech told them.
“If he’s so brilliant, why isn’t he employed?” Syn asked.
“He doesn’t have a degree. We were at MIT together, but he left shortly after I did. There was nothing he could be taught there, anyway. He hardly went to class but still aced everything. We were both getting the degrees only to have the paperwork. But neither of us made it through to the end. You know what happened with me, and he kept having family issues.”
“Anything, Tech, that would get us in shit for hiring him? He’s not wanted by the FBI or some shit like that, is he?” God asked.
“No. He’s not a criminal. Moral to a fault. He’s brilliant enough to hack a bank and reroute millions into an offshore account, but he’d never do it. He lives in an RV and travels the country installing networks and upgrading software systems.”
“I heard a slight accent, is he here legally?” God asked, again being careful.
“He was born here. Yes, he’s a citizen. His father was British, his mother’s African American. He spent his first ten years in Peterborough before his mother moved them back to the States.”
Tech’s computer pinged an announcement and some files started downloading. He read through some of them, knowing where they were coming from. He smirked and turned around to look back at Pres. “Did you know your business partner, Adam Carbone, is hundreds of thousands in debt? It looks like Free decided to start digging, too. Beginning at the top. He’s still sending information. Looks like Mr. Carbone’s been writing substantial checks to bookies associated with illegal gambling sites.”
“He’s part owner of the business if anything happens to you, it all goes to him, right?” Day looked to Pres for confirmation.
Pres nodded gloomily. “I’m seventy percent owner. I’ve never drawn up documents to transfer my shares to Ric or Blair. We weren’t in a rush to do it, but I will now.”
“Sounds like motive to me,” Ruxs said. “He might be thinking along the same lines because he attacked you in your home while you were with your partners. In an attempt to take out all of you. If he’d been trying to kill only you, he would’ve waited until you were alone.”
“This is that guy Free doing this?” Day asked.
“Yes. He’s using my system, but yes,” Tech answered.
“Go get him, Tech,” God ordered. “Steele, Ruxs, Green. Ride with him.”
Tech pulled up to the curb at Atlanta International, scanning the thin crowd. He inched forward a few more spaces when a shuttle pulled away and put his truck in park. A lot attendant waved them forward, yelling about no stopping, but Steele held his badge out the window. The attendant moved on to the next vehicle, aggressively motioning for cars to keep going.
“Where is he?”
“He knows we’re here.” Tech was practically bouncing in his seat. He couldn’t believe Free was here. He’d missed him. He wasn’t sure Free had gotten his encrypted message since he hadn’t responded, but here he was. It wasn’t easy to contact him; he wasn’t on any social media, nor did he use any registered emails. If a company was looking for help with their servers, Free heard about it, researched them, and if they were on the up and up, he contacted them… not the other way around. He preferred to stay off the grid and unfortunately, his caution was warranted.
He knew Free felt like he owed Tech after what he’d done for him before Tech was arrested by the Feds, but he didn’t want Free to feel indebted to work for God and Day if he didn’t want to. This wasn’t a job you could do out of obligation. But he knew Free liked to help people, enjoyed righting wrongs. He was good at it, which was why he’d found the man behind Prescott’s threats faster than any of them did. Free had been righting the wrongs done to him and his mother all his life, so he knew how a vicious person thought, making him very skilled at finding them.
“There he his.” Tech pointed. He watched his long-time friend emerge from the automatic doors with only a laptop bag on his shoulder, pulling a small black carry-on behind him.
“That’s him?” Ruxs gawked.
“You like what you see?” Green stared, too.
“I’m just saying. I wasn’t expecting, ya know.”
Free didn’t look like your usual tech guru; he was striking. Blair’s earlier comment about having to look like sex on a stick to work for the team was proving to be an odd coincidence. Free had filled out in all the right places since Tech last saw him, two years ago. He was thick and toned. He’d always been tall, about six one, but Tech didn’t remember the defined chest and nice-sized biceps. Free wasn’t as big as the Enforcers, but goddamn, he did fit in with the team. His tan skin was smooth and healthy, his dark eyes and even darker lashes made his eyes look exotic and mysterious. In simple plaid trousers, a snug brown V-neck t-shirt and scarf, he looked like a sexy hipster. Free smiled, displaying pretty white teeth when he saw Tech coming around the truck. He set his laptop bag down and wrapped both arms around Tech, holding him close for a long time.
“Missed you,” he whispered softly in Tech’s ear.
“I’ve missed you too, Free. I’m so glad you came.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t? I owe you my life, my mother’s life.” Free squeezed Tech even tighter.
“You don’t owe me a damn thing. I was already going down, might as well have helped a friend before I did.” Tech finally pulled back and looked up at that handsome face.
“I know your boss was the one who helped you. Kept you out of prison. He sounds like someone I wouldn’t mind meeting… possibly working for.” Free smiled, a nicely trimmed, black goatee framing thick, kissable lips. His shoulder-length, textured hair was held back from his face by a thick elastic band.
“You cut off your dreads.” Tech smiled.
“Could never get them to fully lock, hair’s not nappy enough. So I took ’em out.” Free shrugged, running his hands through the thick, dark waves. “Now it’s just a nuisance.”
“Come on. Let’s go. God’s eager to meet you.”
Ruxs’ massive frame stepped out of the truck and pushed the middle row up so Free could climb into the third row. Free was hesitant to approach, but Tech put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Free, in the front is Detective Steele, that’s Detective Green inside, and this is his partner and boyfriend, Detective Ruxsberg.” Tech lowered his voice behind Free so only he could hear him. “They’re the greatest men I know. It’s okay. I promise.” After a few seconds, his friend finally moved closer to Ruxs and climbed inside.
God
“Tech is on his way back. Once they get here, we can go. We’ll take you to get a couple things and bring you back to our place. You can stay in one of the guest rooms. Once we get an ID from the facial recognition software, I’ll send Syn and few officers to pick him up.”
“He’ll probably lie through his teeth.” Ric looked between God and Day like they should know that.
God tried not to take offense, this guy obviously didn’t know who they were. He ignored the outburst for now. “He’ll talk.”
“You want Green to interrogate him?” Syn asked.
“No. I’ll do it,” Day said with his arms folded over his chest, looking like he couldn’t wait to get his hands on anyone who’d hurt his friend.
“No. You’re too close to this,” God refused him.
“I want Leo to go after this guy,” Ric countered.
God had heard enough. “I don’t care what you want. You’re not running anything in here, doc. This is my department. You came to us for help and—”
“We came to Leo for help,” Ric cut God off, standing to his full height, his big body pulsing with anger.
“You think you get him without me?” God thundered over him.
“Rickson, calm down.” Pres stood up too, holding onto his partner’s arm. “God is right. Let him do what he needs to do to get this guy, okay. Leo trusts God with everything in him, and I trust Leo, so we can trust God, too.”
“Ric. He’ll get this guy. Let him. I won’t question his judgment. It’s either his way or no way,” Day said. Any doubt God had about Day settling for him over Pres fled God’s mind like it’d never belonged in the first place. The way Day stood beside him made him feel like the luckiest, strongest man in the world. He had a true partner in every sense of the word, end of story.
Ric finally sat his big ass down, his other partner, Blair, settling his arm around his shoulders. God could see the man was scared for his lovers, but fighting his only help wasn’t the way to save them.
“What do you want to do, God?” Day asked.
“Call Ro. Tell him to get in here. He’s recovered enough, now he’s just milking it. I need to talk to the captain, let him know what’s going on. I’ll be back.” God left the room, hoping this would be over fast. He didn’t want anything postponing their wedding. No, he wouldn’t have anything postponing their wedding. He’d done that enough himself.
Day
“It’s going to be alright, Ric. Blair, I promise you. God’s been entrusted with this department because he’s the best.” Day clasped his hands together on the table in front of him.
“Better than you?” Blair asked.
“Better than all of us,” Day and Syn said at the same time.
“Just to prove God was right, that I am too emotional over the situation, I hadn’t even thought about our first officer, Ronowski. Ro is our lead detective and interrogator. He has a master’s in criminal psychology and has gotten confessions from the most closed-off suspects there are. He’ll get the information we need.”
“Aren’t you a profiler, too?” Pres asked Day.
“Yeah, I am. But Ro can get a confession in half the time I can. He can gain a handle on the situation with one glance at the file and a brief look in a person’s eyes.”
“Sounds like the guy with the accent was pretty good, too,” Pres said.
“No kidding. He’ll still have to be able to work well with us. We all have our areas of expertise. That’s why we get the results we do. We each bring what’s necessary to the table. I don’t know the guy Tech found, but yeah, he sounds smart. I’m just hoping his background is clean, but I don’t think Tech would bring him on if he wasn’t hirable,” Syn commented.
“Will your captain not approve of you working this for me? Is that a possibility?” Pres was rubbing at the tension in his neck until Blair got up and took over the massage.
“No. Not likely. If we can keep it contained, he’ll let us do what we need to do. With your status, we’ll need to move quickly, though. Our captain won’t want paparazzi on us. It’s dangerous and, most of all, he won’t want anyone with a camera following our Enforcers. It’s really not a good idea for the media to catch anything they do on tape,” Day said seriously.
