She's an Easy Target, page 3
part #2 of Quinton Target Series
He stood up and said, “If it isn’t my good friend, Lieutenant Mad. It’s been a while. I keep expecting to see you at the coffee shop, but you haven’t been around, lately.”
“I’m not as close to the Mudhouse Coffee Shop as I used to be when I was living in the room beneath the Jefferson Theater.”
“I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.”
Dr. Bit stood quietly behind her. His head and shoulders were visible above the lieutenant’s head. When the path of QT’s eyes moved above her, she remembered she wasn’t alone.
“This guy behind me is my friend, Dr. Bit.”
Dr. Bit moved around her and reached out his long, skinny arm and bony fingers to shake hands with Quinton. He winced a little from the strength of QT’s grip. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Agent Target. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Likewise. Thanks for the assistance you provided to the FBI to solve the Jeremy Glover homicide case.”
“No thanks are necessary. The lieutenant asked me to help, so I did. She thinks very highly of you.”
“Does she, now? Well, I certainly think highly of her.” He gave her a look that made her turn pink.
“Where’s Blaire tonight?” the lieutenant asked.
“You just missed her. We had dinner and she left to take care of something at work.”
“This late?”
“You know the way it is in our professions.”
“Unfortunately, I do.”
“Why don’t the two of you join me for a drink?”
“We’d love to, but we’re here to meet someone,” she said.
“Why don’t you join us?” Dr. Bit said. “We’re meeting up with my girlfriend, who the lieutenant has yet to meet.”
QT looked at the lieutenant in way that made her feel like he was asking for her approval of the invitation.
“Yes, join us,” she said as an order rather than a request.
“OK,” he said. “I hate drinking by myself.”
The waitress returned to the adjacent table and was talking with the college boys, who were becoming increasingly flirtatious as their drink intake increased. QT got her attention and said, “Lisa, I’m moving inside with my friends. You can bring my check to me in there.”
“Yes, sir.”
The combination of the music from the live band and the growing rowdiness from the semi-intoxicated customers was making it difficult to communicate. Dr. Bit led the way to the door while the lieutenant and QT lagged.
The lieutenant was worried she’d reveal her feelings if she looked into QT’s eyes, so she stared down at the ground as she walked. He put his hand on her shoulder until she made eye contact with him.
He mouthed the words, “I’ve missed you.”
She didn’t respond but she couldn’t prevent herself from smiling as she turned her gaze from him.
After entering Miller’s, Dr. Bit paused and looked around. The bar area was packed. There was standing room only and customers were waiting in line to order drinks. The dining area was full, too. A woman sitting by herself at a table waved her hand and Dr. Bit waved back. “There she is over there,” he said. “Good thing she got here early and saved us a table.”
Dr. Bit hadn’t exaggerated. Chloe was gorgeous. She had dark hair that flowed down her back, brown eyes, and a naturally smooth complexion. Her dimples revealed that she smiled more than she frowned, and she had a perfectly proportioned body, athletic but still soft and feminine. The lieutenant tried not to make snap judgements, but her initial reaction was that Chloe was out of her friend’s league, at least in terms of physical attractiveness. She wished she could believe the fairytale romance story Dr. Bit had told her, but it doesn’t happen like that in the real world.
She watched QT as he looked at Dr. Bit and then at Chloe. He seemed to be picturing them as a couple, like she was doing. He had an expression on his face that the lieutenant would describe as befuddlement, as if he were trying to recall something that he couldn’t quite remember.
Dr. Bit hurried over to Chloe and kissed her on the lips. He motioned for the lieutenant and QT to join them at the table. It was obvious he couldn’t wait for them to meet his beautiful girlfriend.
After they sat down, Chloe said, “You must be Lieutenant Mad. The only things Dr. Bit has told me about you is that the two of you are friends and you live over his garage. He won’t share any details. It’s all very mysterious to me. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you. I want to find out more about you, too.”
Chloe glanced at QT with a quizzical expression and then looked at Dr. Bit for an introduction.
“This is the lieutenant’s friend, FBI Agent Quinton Target,” he said.
If she was disturbed that he’d brought an FBI agent to their gathering without telling her, she didn’t show it. “It’s a pleasure meeting you, Agent Target.”
“The pleasure’s all mine,” he said.
“Am I under investigation?”
“No, I’m off duty. Please call me QT not Agent Target. That goes for you too, Dr. Bit.”
“It’s good to know I’m not suspected of any wrong-doing,” she said jokingly. “Let me revise that. I meant to say suspected of anything illegal.”
“This is going to sound cliché, but have we met before? You look very familiar to me.”
“No, I’m quite sure I’d remember if we had.”
“Perhaps we met at work. You aren’t employed by the FBI, are you?” he said and smiled.
“I’m employed by Uncle Sam, but not the FBI. I work at the Social Security Office. You don’t look like you’ll be ready for retirement benefits for thirty years, so I doubt we met there.”
“Are you on the FBI’s top ten most wanted list?”
She laughed and said, “I don’t know. I’ll check at the Post Office next time I’m there, if they still display the posters on the wall.”
“They stopped posting them at least ten years ago. Everything, including the top ten, is on the Internet now.”
“You can check the Web if you want to, but I don’t think you’ll find me on the top ten.”
“I’m usually good with faces and yours isn’t a face that’s easily forgotten. It’ll come to me.”
The verbal volleying between QT and Chloe was beginning to seem flirtatious to the lieutenant and she was uncomfortable with it, perhaps even a little jealous if she were being honest with herself.
“Dr. Bit didn’t tell me you were dating an FBI agent, lieutenant,” Chloe said.
“QT and I aren’t dating.” She paused for a few seconds and then added, “... anymore.”
“Oh, I see.”
“We’re still very good friends, though. We get together periodically,” she said in a way that left it open to interpretation whether they got together for sex or some other purpose.
QT gave the lieutenant a coy smile and said, “Yes, we’re still the best of friends. I stay in as close touch with her as she’ll let me. As I’m sure you’re aware, beautiful women are the ones who call the shots. They let us men think we’re in control, but we’re not really.”
The lieutenant was embarrassed that she’d implied she and QT occasionally hooked up, but for some reason she’d felt the need to let Chloe know that she and QT had been intimate and possibly still were. She was relieved that he’d backed her by making their relationship sound ambiguous.
“We ran into QT outside,” the lieutenant said. “He was sitting alone, so we invited him to join us. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. The evening just got more interesting.” She gave QT an alluring glance and then smiled at the lieutenant in way that Lieutenant Mad interpreted as saying, I could have him, if I wanted him.
Chloe put her hand on Dr. Bit’s arm and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t you think having QT here with the lieutenant makes the evening more interesting, honey?”
“I’m happy if you’re happy,” he said but he didn’t seem to be enjoying Chloe’s apparent fascination with the FBI agent.
Chapter 5
Blaire parked two blocks from her final destination. After leaving Miller’s, she’d gone home and changed from her white capris and summery top into navy blue yoga pants, a dark colored T-shirt, and a lightweight hoody that matched her pants. She opened her car’s trunk and pulled out a backpack, which contained her hacking tools. She slung it over her shoulders and closed the trunk.
The short walk gave her time to think about her evening with QT. It had felt good to be away from work and enjoying each other’s company. In many ways, their jobs had been what had drawn them together. They understood without question the demands of each other’s job and made allowances. But she was pushing the limits of that blind understanding with QT and she knew it. The stunt Lucas had pulled hadn’t helped matters.
She had a good thing going with Quinton and didn’t want to ruin it. It was apparent from his comments during the evening that he was feeling neglected. Her mama had once told her in a girl-to-girl talk, take care of your man or another woman will. Mama was right. QT had strayed once before when she’d cheated on him with Jeremy Glover. He could be tempted again if she wasn’t more attentive. She planned to rectify the situation when she got home that night.
As she moved closer to the house on Rugby Road, her thoughts shifted to the task at hand. She estimated she’d have one hour to complete the job. It was possible she’d have as many as two hours, but she wasn’t counting on it. Lucas Taylor was positioned to alert her when the homeowner was on his way back. Why Lucas had decided to directly participate in the field operation rather than sending a subordinate, she didn’t know. If she were to guess, it would be that he thought she’d be more responsive to his sexual advances if they were in the field together. She hoped the knee to the groin she’d given him had changed his mind, but she also knew some men can’t take a hint.
As she made her final approach, a twinge of guilt hit her. Lieutenant Mad and her cohorts had saved her life during the Jeremy Glover investigation and now she was repaying them by hacking into their systems and installing devices to spy on them. Her reluctance had been a topic of discussion with Lucas after it had surfaced during her latest polygraph test. It was determined that she was being honest when she said she’d do as she was ordered, but the fact that she had qualms about it was considered a negative. She suspected it would result in a red flag noted in her personnel file.
Because Blaire had previously met Lieutenant Mad in person, it had been decided she couldn’t risk being detected by doing the preliminary surveillance necessary to plan the break-in. Lucas had gone into the field instead and obtained the video footage of the outside security at the house. Another NSA associate had obtained other details necessary for Blaire to plan her entry.
Before reaching the first security camera, which was above the room over the garage, she removed a handheld device from her backpack and pointed it at the roof. She repeated the process for the other three cameras located along the eves of the house. The device was designed to disrupt the video cameras for forty-five seconds.
She hurried up the stairs onto the porch and held an image in front of the facial recognition device. A computerized voice responded, “Welcome, Dr. Bit. Enter your security code on the keypad.”
Blaire entered the code and the door unlocked. Prior to entering the house, she gave another blast from the jamming device to disable any cameras that might be inside the home. She moved quickly to the stairs that led to the basement. The glow from the computer monitors lit the stairs sufficiently for her to see to walk down.
Dr Bit’s home computer room was more extensive than she’d anticipated. Obviously, it didn’t compare to the vast network and processing power available to the NSA, but it was formidable, nonetheless. She wasted no time beginning the most difficult task of the evening, which was to determine the password to access the network. Given enough time, the NSA’s supercomputers could break any code; however, she didn’t have a lot of time.
Fortunately for her, even a tech-savvy individual like Dr. Bit couldn’t resist injecting a personal touch into his password. Lucas had told her that it was likely that imbedded in the password would be the name, ChloeRipen. With the name as a starting point, it didn’t take long for the NSA supercomputers to identify the numbers and special characters that completed the password. Once she had access to the network, it was easy for Blaire to use her hacking tools to make copies of all the local files on the computers as well as the cloud storage. Once that was done, she installed the spyware to track future activity and a backdoor to allow remote access to the home network and security system.
Before leaving the basement, she accessed the home security system and deleted evidence of the video outages caused by her disruption device during entry and the log where it was recorded that she had entered the front door as Dr. Bit. Unfortunately, she was going to cause additional blips when she used the jammer again to shield her presence as she left. If Dr. Bit suspected a break-in had occurred, the evidence of the cameras being down for a short while would be on his recordings but at least there was no way to connect it to her or anyone else in the NSA.
The phone vibrated in her hoody pocket, and she removed it to read the text message from Lucas.
LAT: Subjects still here but might be headed your way soon. Time to wrap up.
Blaire had one final task to complete before exiting. The betrayal she was about to commit bothered her most of all. She entered Lieutenant Mad’s room over the garage and installed the pinhole camera and the electronic mind reading device. Once it was done, she scurried down the stairs and left.
There was a knot in her stomach as she walked back to her car. She tried to convince herself that if she hadn’t done the break-in, somebody else from the NSA would’ve been assigned to do it. Her rationalization didn’t help. She’d betrayed people who’d saved her life and no justification would ease her guilt.
When she reached her car, she opened the trunk and tossed in the backpack. She raised her hand to wipe below her watering eyes. It was at that moment she sensed the presence behind her. Before she could react, an arm wrapped around her throat and a hand pressed a chloroform-soaked rag over her nose and mouth. She dug her fingernails into the assailant’s arm, trying to break free, but the drug took hold and her strength waned.
As she drifted into unconsciousness, she thought, I want to go home and be with QT.
Chapter 6
Quinton had reached his limit. Five beers in a night was a lot for him. Unlike some of his FBI friends and police detective acquaintances, he’d never been one to drown his sorrows in a bottle. All men have their weaknesses. His wasn’t booze — it was women. However, he’d discovered a long time ago that one-night stands weren’t his thing. He preferred to develop a relationship with one woman at a time. Although, he’d be the first to admit that women confused the Hell out of him, which made it difficult for him to sustain long-term, monogamous relationships.
He wasn’t sure if it was his excessive drinking during the evening, his recent lack of intimacy with Blaire, or the lieutenant’s seductive attire, but as the evening had worn on, he’d felt more and more attracted to her. He found himself listening less to the conversation and thinking more about being alone with Lieutenant Mad.
Chloe peeked at her phone screen and then said, “Please excuse me for a few minutes. I need to use the lady’s room.”
Dr. Bit glanced over at an Asian looking man who was staring at him. “That’s L. Ron at the bar,” he said to the lieutenant. “I’m going to find out what he’s doing here.”
“Invite him to join us,” the lieutenant said.
“I will, but we both know he won’t.”
The combination of the band playing music and the intoxicated customers becoming more vocal was making it difficult to carry on a conversation. The lieutenant looked toward the bar at Dr. Bit and L. Ron. They both had serious looks on their faces as they talked.
“Something’s not right,” the lieutenant said to QT in a loud voice. “L. Ron never goes to bars. He doesn’t drink alcohol and he seldom goes anywhere to socialize.”
“It’s Friday night. People do strange things on Fridays. Perhaps he was lonely and felt the need to talk to a friend.”
“L. Ron is a little strange every day of the week, not only on Fridays. Maybe you’re right though. I might be reading too much into his behavior. Knowing him, he probably thinks he discovered indisputable proof of an alien presence in Charlottesville and had to rush over to tell Dr. Bit about it.”
“Is he an extraterrestrial conspiracy theorist?”
“Oh yeah, he’s a believer.”
“I get the impression you don’t spend a lot of Friday nights out socializing either.”
“That’s true,” she said in a soft voice while looking down at her drink. “Maybe I’d go out more if I was with someone special, I wanted to socialize with.”
“What’d you say?” he said loudly, trying to rise above the noise created by the band and Miller’s patrons.
She cupped her hand around his ear and whispered, “That’s true, I don’t go out very often.”
Her warm breath blowing into his ear and her hand touching his face caused him to have inappropriate feelings — but he didn’t pull away. He cupped his hand around her ear and whispered back, “Why did you come here tonight?”
“I wanted to meet Chloe to make sure she’s on the up and up. What’s your opinion of her?”
“She’s beautiful, smart, witty, and likeable.”
“Yeah, she’s almost too perfect, isn’t she? We’ve been talking with her for over an hour and I don’t know any more about her than I did before I met her tonight. It’s like she has a script and sticks to it.”
