Dangerous Games (Aegis Group, #3) (22 page)

“Still, I’d prefer to just speak with you. If you don’t mind?” He didn’t give a fuck whose feelings he hurt when it came to Andrea’s life.

“It’s okay. Seriously. I’ll just go to the corner store and get us a drink. We never stopped to grab anything.” Patricia flashed a too-bright smile and pulled out the car keys.

“Thanks for being so understanding.” Crystal reached for her girlfriend, capturing her in an awkward hug.

Patricia patted Crystal’s shoulder while smiling at Zain.

Yeah, it was probably a dick thought, but he could see Patricia swooping in to play the sympathetic shoulder to Crystal. Chances were, the woman was harmless, and this was nothing more than an opportunity to her. Patricia extracted herself and left, never once looking back at them.

“We aren’t going back?” Crystal asked after a moment.

“In a minute.” He turned to face her. “Tell me more about Miranda.”

“My boss Miranda? Why?”

“Was the buy-out amicable?”

“Yeah. I mean, there was some tense stuff in the beginning between her and the VP, but nothing major. It just took them a while to work out who was in charge of what.”

“Why?”

“Okay, so, Doug Mahoney is...I get the feeling he and Cliff used to be way closer than they are now. We call Doug Mr. Baloney, if that tells you anything about him. He and Miranda butted heads because he thought he should have operational control of Grunge, including being able to tell Miranda what to do.”

“Mmmkay.”

“And...I’m not clear. I don’t know anything for certain. What I got was that the deal Miranda worked out with Cliff was that she only had to answer to him. And then Baloney steps in and tried to change it. Cliff almost changed the deal because—it was done. He was the boss and Miranda was screwed. But...then something happened. No idea what. And everything smoothed out. Overnight. Like—insta smooth sailing. But that was a long time ago.”

“Tell me more about Doug. When was he demoted and promoted?”

“Why? What’s going on?”

Zain stared at Crystal. He didn’t doubt her allegiance to her friend, or that she was as invested in getting Andrea back as he was. The problem was—how much could he trust her? Unlike him, she was looking at a situation where someone she knew and likely trusted was ready to stab her in the back. Quite literally, if that person was yanking someone like Kevin Lee around.

“Zain, you’re scaring me,” Crystal said.

“We might have a lead, but it’s wrong.”

“What? And that means—?”

“I think someone, maybe Miranda or Doug, is setting Cliff up to take the fall for kidnapping Andrea and everything else that has happened, and I don’t believe it’s him.”

“Wait—hold on—you just listed the three least suspicious people. I mean, I don’t like Doug, but that’s because he is so fiercely loyal to Cliff. Like, if they weren’t so straight I’d say they were gay for each other.”

“Then who else would benefit from pointing fingers at Cliff? If we don’t come up with another name, more leads, Max is going to arrest Cliff once he figures it all out.”

“You haven’t told him?”

“No, because I don’t think its Cliff. Neither did Andrea.”

“You—wait—you and Andrea already had a list? Was I on it?”

“No—”

“Then why not tell me?”

“Because we don’t know who we can trust. You’re about the only person I can think of who wouldn’t be on that list.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Crystal, focus.”

“You didn’t just learn that your—”

“Stop turning this into something about you. It’s not. Do you want to find Andrea, or not?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then listen. Someone in the Dark Matter umbrella wants to pin this whole circus on Cliff. Now, you tell me, who stands to benefit from that?”

Crystal’s mouth worked soundlessly. Her brows drew down, lifted, she squinted and still—no answer.

“No one.” She shook her head.

“Someone has to.”

“No, seriously, no one wins. If Cliff is gone then...it’s a lose-lose situation for us.”

The double doors burst open.

Max grinned.

“I know who hired Kevin Lee,” he said.

Zain’s stomach sank.

“Who?” Crystal asked.

“Cliff Barnes.”

Fuck.

The clock was now officially counting down until they arrested the wrong man. What would happen to Andrea? What was her role in all of this? And how much danger was she in once Cliff was arrested?

Andrea hugged her knees to her chest. Her butt was numb from sitting on the wooden stairs. The complete darkness made it hard to tell the passage of time. How long she’d been down here. Alone.

Well, almost alone.

She’d found Crystal’s cat.

October was content to lay next to Andrea and purr.

Her arms had stopped burning. After the overwhelming fear had died down, she realized the cuts were shallow and mostly scabbed over already. It didn’t change the fact that the psycho had cut her. Blood still flaked off her skin and stained her clothing.

She sucked in a deep breath.

Where was Zain?

He’d said to wait for him, to do nothing, but shouldn’t he have found her already?

What was taking so long?

She stood, gripping the railing with both hands while her legs remembered what they were good for. October meowed, the sound punctuated with a question mark, as though she were asking,
When are we going home?

“I don’t know, October,” Andrea whispered.

There was a grimy window across the room up near the ceiling. What were the chances she could get out that way?

She peered around her prison. The basement was surprisingly empty, with only some boxes here and there of what she imagined was junk.

Andrea descended to the basement floor, edging forward slowly, hands out. October meowed at her, pressing against her ankles and generally being a pain in the ass. A flash of lightning illuminated the basement for one, quick moment. Her path was clear. She crossed to the wall under the window and stood on tiptoe, trying to see out.

Trees. Grass. No lights. Were they out in the suburbs? Or the country? How had they made it out of the greater Seattle area so fast? Granted, she’d lost track of time there for a while, so maybe she wasn’t the most reliable gage of where they were.

Most importantly, it told her there were no neighbors. No one to hear her scream. So why bother?

She lowered to her heels and put her back against the wall.

October plastered herself to Andrea’s shin, her little furry body vibrating.

Where was Zain? How was he going to find her out here? She didn’t even know where she was, so how could he get there?

The lightning flashed again, a triple blip of light.

She squinted into the darkness.

Was that a light bulb?

Andrea ventured to her left, hand outstretched. Had she imagined the chain and a thin string dangling? Light wouldn’t do her a lot of good, but at least she could see herself, take stock of her injuries and find out if there was a bathroom down here.

It took a few moments wandering around blindly, hands outstretched like some TV zombie, but eventually she walked straight into the pull-cord. She tugged on it gently and dim light flickered on.

The basement was worse than she’d imagined.

A kennel sat open, collecting dust in a corner. Old pee pads were crumpled up next to it. Clearly, someone used to keep their pet down here. Or maybe they still did whenever they were here? She found it hard to believe someone like that man upstairs would have an animal. She doubted a dog—or her even—would last long around him.

Besides the dog paraphernalia, there were the few boxes she’d glimpsed earlier—and miracle of miracles, a small powder and laundry room tucked under the stairs. After a pee and a quick wash, Andrea felt like she could actually do something.

She made a circuit of the room. The concrete walls were damp and cool, speaking to inevitable foundation issues. The home had to be older, judging by the wear and tear to the joists above her. There were some electrical outlets and even an old phone jack, none of which did her any good. But at least she had light to chase away the boogie men and to keep her from tripping over October.

Andrea turned her attention to the boxes, poking in them, digging into someone else’s odds and ends. There were phone books, an old Nokia cell phone, some random cords and trophies, plus a few tools on some shelves and a roll of tape.

Nothing useful.

She even tried powering the Nokia phone on just to see if it had a spark, but nothing worked.

She was fucked.

Zain would have to find her using his Captain America powers. Not that the Captain really had powers, so to speak...man, she was screwed.

She pulled the phone apart, checking the battery for corrosion, but the case was broken and the whole back fell off, leaving the insides of the phone exposed.

Andrea stared at the brick-like phone.

It’s parts were all there. The speaker. A receiver. Buttons. It was a phone. Without connection or power, but it was a phone.

She’d fiddled with enough Nokia 5110’s, taking them apart to do a silly LCD screen tutorial that she knew how they worked. At least the basics.

Except...The black stuff on the mic looked a lot like it’d burned out. Maybe a short? A lot of the phones were ruined from people dropping their phones into a cup holder with a beverage in it. Lord only knew how many phones she’d killed back in the day, doing just that.

Okay, so first—she needed to figure out how to wire the phone into a land-line. She’d seen that on...What show was it? One of them. But that’d been a smart phone. Not a nearly-two-decade-old brick.

She scrambled to the tool shelf, October shadowing her like a dog and not a cat at all. There. That’s what she needed. A screw driver and a random plastic bag full of screws, nails and other bits.

If she cut the phone line, stripped the wires down and maybe connected them to the Nokia’s motherboard...she could get a dial tone. Maybe all she needed to do was make a connection. Zain could trace a call, right? Big, bad tech guys like him did that sort of thing?

Except...she didn’t know Zain’s phone number. Who memorized numbers anymore? The only numbers she still remembered was her parent’s old, out of use phone and...Crystal’s. She’d never changed her phone number. It was still the same one.

Zain had said to do nothing. She knew that was what he’d want her to do. But she couldn’t. Andrea didn’t need Crystal to pop her spine into place. Andrea had allowed her friend to always take the lead—shoulder the hard stuff—but right now, all Andrea had was herself. And she was damn well going to do something instead of waiting to be rescued.

She gathered the extra cables and cords, the tools and tape until she’d put together as much of a kit as she could. She even dragged the dog kennel across the basement to serve as her work bench.

It was slow going. She had one shot of creating a sort of emergency phone. If it didn’t work, or if she fried the motherboard, she was out of options.

Andrea cut bits of a canvas tarp and taped the folded over fabric to her hands to protect her from getting shocked. It made her a bit clumsier, but so long as she was careful and didn’t hurry, it didn’t encumber her too much.

She cut the end of an electrical cord and peeled the plastic casing back until she could attach it to the phone. This way she could essentially plug it into an outlet and get a charge. But she waited. No need to charge the phone quite yet. Not until she had it tied into the phone line.

Andrea repeated the same mantra over and over again. There was no way to tell how many times the phone might work, but it only had to be once.

One shot.

That was all she’d have—if that.

Finally, she managed to connect the land-line to the Nokia.

She turned it over, holding her breath, while Crystal’s number ran through her head on repeat.

The mic wasn’t going to work. So how would she make Crystal realize it was her?

Andrea had learned Morse code as part of one of their projects. At least enough to get herself in trouble. Binary though... Crystal knew binary, but that was a ones-and-zeros language. She couldn’t use that. A tone then. A jingle. What would Crystal recognize?

“I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid...” Her hands shook as she hit the power button.

The screen lit up, that familiar LCD screen shining vibrantly.

One shot.

That was all she needed.

And for Crystal to remember what it was like to be a kid.

Andrea dialed Crystal’s number. The speaker crackled and it was hard to hear, but it did the job.

One ring.

Two.

“Pick up,” Andrea chanted.

“Hello?” Crystal’s voice sounded like she was under water.

October meowed, again and again.

Andrea swallowed the urge to yell at the phone. Crystal wouldn’t be able to hear her—and it would only draw the attention of her kidnapper.

“I don’t wanna grow up,” Andrea whispered under her breath, pressing the keypad in time to the familiar jingle.

“Hello?” Crystal said again.

“I’m a Toys R Us kid...”

“Who the hell is this? Answer me.”

“Come on, Crystal. Listen.” Andrea started the jingle over again. The rest of the verse was lost to her.

“Who is this?” a male voice said.

Zain!

Her fingers froze, her thoughts short circuiting for a second

“Hello?” he said again.

“Three dots.” She mashed the one key three times. “Three dashes.” She switched keys, holding each down for two counts. “Three dots.” She switched back to the one key, keeping it brief.

Silence.

She bit her lip, hoping against hope that he heard her.

“Andrea?”

“Yes!” How did she say yes? “Uh...Dash, dot, dash, dash—what is E? Dot! Three dots.”

“I need a trace on this now.” Zain’s voice was a snarl.

What had she learned? What could she tell him?

Kevin wanted files. She had no idea which ones or why, but maybe Zain could figure it out.

“Files. How do I say, files? Um...F...dot, dot, dash, dot and...dot, dot...dot, dash, dot, dot, why the fuck is this so long? Okay, f-i-l-e—dot. And, dot, dot, dot.”