Finding Kate Huntley (13 page)

Chapter 17

It was two in the morning by the time Jack steered the 1970 Chevy onto Miramar Road, a few miles from San Diego and a few blocks from Dr. Forstin’s laboratory. The engine backfired, prompting Kate to sit up a little taller, her eyes wide and alert. She looked like a woman who was about to walk into a combat zone instead of break into a private lab. Not once had Kate nodded off on the more than two-hour ride to San Diego. She was focused. She had a gun at her side and her knife strapped around her ankle. She meant business and she wasn’t taking any chances.

Jack thought about Dr. Forstin, finding it hard to believe it wasn’t long ago that he sat in the man’s office and talked to him about finding Kate Huntley. It was even more difficult to believe Dr. Forstin was dead. He’d liked the man right off. Dr. Forstin was friendly...a family man, a good man who wanted to make a difference in the world.

Jack took another right and then pulled off the road and parked close to the curb. “The lab is a block from here,” he told Kate. “I think our best bet will be to leave the truck here and go by foot, heading in through the back.”

Kate nodded and opened the door.

Jack climbed out of the truck and took a deep breath. He tried not to think about Conrad. Conrad might have been a rat, but nobody deserved to die that way.

Jack could smell salt and seaweed drifting in from the shore. If he listened hard enough, he could hear the gentle lapping of the tide. But even the soothing sound failed to take the edge off.

With its rusty rocker panels, chipped red paint, and bent bumper, Jack was surprised the truck ran as well as it did. “I figure the agency will have security watching over the place,” he said as he pulled a bag filled with tools from behind the front seat. The bag was connected to a belt which he hooked around his waist.

Kate pulled a beanie over her head. With her dark clothing, she just about disappeared in the night.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’ll follow you.”

Jack kept a steady pace as he led the way. A dog barked in the distance. For about half a block they were forced to stay on the side of the road with no trees or brush to hide them. He picked up the pace. As soon as they could, they cut down an alley between two buildings. Jack could see the lab in the distance. An outside light came on as they passed another commercial building. The light could have been set off by motion, but he wasn’t taking any chances. With a jerk of his hand, he gestured toward the chain-link fence ahead. They needed to hurry. Jack stopped at the fence and linked his hands together to give Kate some leverage to get over the fence, but she was a few steps ahead of him and already at the top of the fence waiting for him.

He sighed.

“Jack,” she said. “What are you doing?”

“Not a thing,” he muttered as he started to climb. Once his feet hit the ground on the other side, he looked around, shaking his head when he spotted Kate sliding through a back window. He jogged that way. She had the back door open before he figured out how he was going to squeeze through the window.

She waved him in. The door clicked shut behind him.

The lab was one large dimly lit room, containing high-tech lab equipment, including various microscopes and vacuum pumps. Test tubes and flasks covered a long built-in table to the right. Computers and cabinets lined the wall to the left. Jack climbed over the yellow crime tape and took a seat in front of the main computer. Everything looked exactly the way it had when he visited Dr. Forstin. No blood stains, just crime scene barrier tape sectioning off the area where the doctor had been killed, which happened to be the area that he and Kate were focusing on.

While Kate searched through file cabinets, Jack started the computer. He looked at the ceiling and around the computer area to see if there was a camera. Nothing. His eyes followed the window frame. Nada. He and Kate talked at length on the way to the lab about what they would look for and what they hoped to accomplish. They needed clues, anything that might hint as to why somebody wanted Dr. Forstin killed.

Kate was focusing her search on finding a link between Forstin’s death and her father’s death. Jack hoped to find anything that might help prove he wasn’t the killer—a letter or an email indicating that Dr. Forstin was on the verge of an important discovery.

It was easy to see that the hard drive had already been tampered with. Jack had expected no less. Most of the dated material was from a month ago, which meant all files created in the last thirty days had been removed.

Jack searched through the desk drawers for discs. Dr. Forstin had seemed especially knowledgeable about computers. If that were the case, Forstin would not have made it easy for someone to collect data. At the very least, Forstin would have kept duplicate files of anything worth saving. He could have hidden files away on another account. Jack clicked away at the keyboard. “Come on Dr. Forstin, show me what you’ve got.” He started with names of people Dr. Forstin might have known. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a picture of Dr. Forstin’s dog. Jack had a chocolate Labrador when he was growing up, and he’d mentioned that fact to Dr. Forstin during their visit. Dr. Forstin had said his dog’s name was Ireland because that’s where his grandparents were from. Jack typed in the name. “Bingo.”

The cursor blinked. He needed a password. “What was Dr. Forstin’s wife’s name?” he asked Kate.

“Mary.”

He typed in the word “Mary.”

Nothing. He tried “Bingo.” Nothing. Then he leaned back into the chair. “How about the kids?”

“I don’t remember,” she said without turning about. “But Dr. Forstin used to call his wife Kiwi sometimes when he mentioned her during our conversations. I thought the name was sort of cute.”

Jack typed in the word ‘Kiwi.’ “You’re a genius.”

Whoever Harrison had sent to the lab to collect data had done shoddy work. A dozen files came up, filling the screen. Jack rummaged through the desk drawers until he found a box of unused discs. He slid a disc into the disk drive, clicked a few buttons and waited for the files to be transferred. After a few moments, it was done. He shoved the disc into his shirt pocket and shut the computer off just as two bright beams of light filled the room. Headlights.

Jack dropped to the floor. Kate clutched a file to her chest and did the same. They crawled away from the window to the far corner of the room. They needed more time. Kate tucked the file inside her shirt and under her waistband. She crawled to the table and pushed a microscope out of her way so she could climb on top.

The headlights blinked and went off. The room was dark again. A car door opened and closed.

Kate stood on the table and pushed open one of the ceiling panels above her head. Jack climbed up next to her and hurried the process by giving her bottom an upward shove. She looked over her shoulder at him. He winked, climbed up behind her, and quickly slid the panel back into place just as a key rattled in the door.

“Where did you get the key?” a male voice asked.

“The cleaning lady,” another voice answered, also a man. American. “Like taking candy from a baby.”

A shiver ran up Jack’s spine. He recognized the second voice. But from where?

The door clicked shut. Shuffling sounds ensued.

Kate crawled toward the middle of the beam. If she fell, she would go straight through the ceiling.
Why couldn’t she stay still?
The woman could drive a man crazy. He couldn’t stop her without calling out, so he followed her instead.

“Hey, look at this Patrick!”

Jack froze. Patrick. Patrick Monahan from Division II...he should have known. A.J. had mentioned seeing Monahan with Harrison. He heard the buzz of the computer, followed by the clacking of a keyboard.

Balanced on a beam, Kate stopped up ahead.

Jack edged his way across the beam. He was bigger than she was and not quite as agile.

Kate pointed downward.

There was a crack in one of the panels. Through the crack he saw a man sitting in front of the computer.

“Any luck?” a voice asked.

“Holy shit.” Patrick turned his head. “Somebody’s been on this computer. And I mean recently.”

The other man moved to Patrick’s side and looked over his shoulder.

“Holy shit!” Patrick repeated. He came to his feet so fast he nearly knocked the chair over.

“What’s going on?”

Patrick pointed at the screen. “Somebody logged on at 2:12.” He looked at his watched. “It’s 2:21. What does that tell you?”

The other guy went to the window and pushed it open. “Whoever was here came through this way.”

The room was suddenly quiet, too quiet.

Jack froze in an awkward position. In a few minutes his right leg would be numb if he didn’t move. Kate must have seen the concern on his face since she was shaking her head. The disc fell from his pocket and skittered across the paneled ceiling.

“Did you hear that?”

One of the men took a few steps until he was staring straight up at the crack in the panel. It was Patrick’s pal, a man Jack didn’t recognize. The man pulled out a pistol and aimed the barrel straight up, right between Jack’s eyes.

Kate and Jack held still.

Patrick came to his partner’s side and looked up. He pushed the guy’s arm down. “I didn’t hear a thing. Don’t get trigger happy on me.”

“I think somebody’s up there.”

Both of Jack’s legs were cramping. He wasn’t sure how long he could stay still, especially straddled like he was on the beam.

“Take the flashlight and go take a look.”

Footsteps sounded as the man headed across the room. The table in the corner of the room rattled. Somebody was climbing onto the table and heading their way. Kate leaned toward Jack and jabbed a finger into his shoulder. When he looked her way, she pointed down. She was going to jump, crash right through the panels, and do what? Break her neck? Her chances of falling on top of Monahan were slim to none.

Jack shook his head.

She positioned her body, readying herself.

“Holy crap, would you look at this!” Patrick said.

Kate gripped onto the beam, teetering slightly before she caught her balance and somehow managed to stay where she was. Jack drew in a long breath.

“That’s a fucking surveillance camera up there, isn’t it?” Patrick asked.

The other guy was on the table trying to get a hold of the panel. “It looks too small to be a video camera. And why would the doctor put a camera right there...facing his work area? Why not facing the front entry or the area outside the door?”

Patrick snorted. “Christ, I don’t know. Lou never mentioned a fucking surveillance camera.”

Lou
. Kate had mentioned the name Lou in the airplane. Jack made a mental note to have A.J. check the agency’s system for anyone who went by that name.

“We’re going to need a ladder to get up there and see if it has a video tape in it,” Patrick’s partner said.

“There’s no time for a ladder,” Patrick growled. “This has taken too long already. Get back on that table,” he ordered, “and crawl through one of those panels. You might be able to reach the camera from up there.”

“What if I can’t reach it?”

“I don’t know. I’ll throw you a hammer. Just get up there and get the damn camera out of there!”

The man hurried across the room again. Jack could hear Patrick scrambling through the cabinets, probably searching for a hammer or heavy object.

The panel, where Jack and Kate entered, scraped against the ceiling. Jack watched the guy’s fingertips come through the hole, feeling around for something to grasp onto.

Jack reached for his gun.

Patrick’s friend muttered a string of curses.

An outside alarm went off—a high-pitched deafening sound that pierced his eardrums. Kate covered her ears.

The fingers disappeared right before the panel dropped into place. Both men scrambled around the room. Bright lights lit up the room. More headlights.

“Somebody’s stealing the goddamn car!”

The door to the lab opened and shut. Jack didn’t waste any time. He wasn’t sure if both men had gone outside or not, but he didn’t have time to worry about it. Despite the fact his legs were numb and only half working, he crawled across the beam, ignoring the blare of the alarm and instead concentrating on reaching the camera. He told Kate to hang on while he crawled over her, which he did in about two seconds flat. By the time he reached the end of the beam, he heard the men return.

The two men had to shout to be heard over the alarm. “Nobody’s there,” Patrick told his buddy. “You left the door unlocked, you idiot. Somebody was probably trying to steal something.”

No response.

“Get your stuff.”

“What about the surveillance camera?”

“The police are going to be here any minute. I can hear the fucking sirens. We’ll have to come back later.”

The two men hustled about the room, grabbing their things. As soon as the door clicked shut, Jack raised the panel and reached a hand toward the camera. Another two inches and he’d be able to touch it. He’d never seen such a small surveillance camera.

Kate was already half way through the panel at the other end. “Jack. We’ve got to get out of here!”

“You go ahead. If there’s a tape or a disc in this thing, it could be the proof I need to clear my name.”

“Don’t you think the FBI would have confiscated it already?” she asked.

“If they had, Patrick would already know about it.”

“You knew that man?”

“Yeah, he works with me in the Cyber Division. At least he used to.”

She didn’t say anything.

“This doesn’t look like a regular surveillance camera. It’s much smaller than anything I’ve ever seen. I think Forstin knew he was in danger and installed the camera for just that reason.” Jack lifted his arm, extended every finger, reaching as far as he could. “I’ve almost got it.”

Kate dropped through the opening and hit the floor. She landed, soft and sure, like a cat.

Jack pushed a button. Click. A miniature-recording disc popped out.

The police siren sounded right outside the door.