Blake had agreed to steal a valuable piece of software under development, something Lincoln Kinkead called Falcon’s Flight. That was only a code name, of course. The product had nothing to do with birds. It was just designed for people who thought of themselves as high fliers, and apparently Kinkead had enjoyed the little joke.
Jerome had always maintained legit business interests to cover his other activities. He’d gotten wind of Falcon’s Flight at a software conference in Las Vegas. He’d stumbled on it by accident in a bar when a guy named Rosenbloom, who should have been keeping his mouth shut, was bragging about his hotshot son, the computer whiz.
As soon as Jerome found out about the product, he knew it was worth a fortune. He could use it, but even better, he’d found a client who would pay big bucks for the program.
Jerome had researched S&D for vulnerable employees and found Blake. He’d arranged to bump into the guy at the public golf course where he played and got to talking with him. After several conversations, he’d come around to the subject of the software, and Blake had been interested in working out a deal. Jerome had been sure the IT guy would deliver it to him. But after they’d come to an agreement, the little worm had held out for more money. His mistake.
Too bad he’d croaked under torture. That put Jerome back at square one. But he’d figured out another way to get what Blake had stolen. He’d gone back to his list of employees in the S&D IT department and started doing background checks—not just on the individuals, but also on their relatives. That had led him to Elena Reyes. Her loyalty to her family was supposed to get him what he needed. Only she’d double-crossed her own brother and taken the information to the S&D security chief instead.
He snorted. Although he hadn’t counted on that little twist, he’d scrambled to have her intercepted her at Gallagher’s place.
Unfortunately, his guys had come up against some serious problems. And why had she run to Gallagher? Because she trusted him? Or because she was sleeping with him? He should have checked that out more carefully.
Now one of his men was dead, and Reyes was in the wind. But there was still a good chance of getting her back.
Jerome’s cell phone buzzed, and he looked at the number. It was one of the men he’d sent to Reyes’ apartment.
“We’re here with the brother.”
“Good work.”
“Where do you want him?”
“In the interrogation room downstairs. No point in letting him think that we’re going to make him comfortable.”
The man on the other end of the line laughed.
“And you got his cell phone?”
“Yes.”
“Keep it handy. I’m betting that his sister is going to call to find out how brother boy is doing. And she’s going to be upset when she finds out where he is and what’s been happening to him.”
The man on the other end of the line made a sound of agreement.
“Strip him and strap him down on the table. I’ll be right there,” Jerome said, feeling like things were looking up. Elena Reyes might have double-crossed her brother initially, but how was she going to react when he started pleading with her to save him?
Elena turned toward Shane and kept her gaze steady as she punched out her words. “I told you what’s going on.”
“I want to hear your story again.”
The way he was looking at her made her cringe. “It’s not a story. It’s the truth.”
“Start at the beginning. Did you and Arnold Blake have some kind of scam going?”
“No.”
“Okay. You found something in his desk,” he prompted, seeing if he would get the same story from her that she’d given him in the apartment.
“An old cell phone. I think he transferred the information he stole to the phone’s SIM card. The way you could put it on a memory stick. Only it wouldn’t be obvious.”
“You think so because?”
“Because of the emails he sent me. About SIMon Sez.”
Lincoln Kinkead sat down at the monitoring station and looked at the two uniformed security guards from the night shift. Philip, the one who had called him, was in his late thirties with thinning brown hair. He had been with the company for five years. The other one was Charles, who had come on board six months ago. He was younger, with blond hair a beat too long for Lincoln’s taste. Both were very reliable.
“Let’s go over what happened step by step,” Lincoln said.
He kept his gaze on the guard’s face as Philip repeated the story.
“I was in the can when she came in. But I saw her on the monitor when I rewound. She took the elevator upstairs, just before the cameras on the IT floor went off.”
“You have the camera feeds?” Lincoln asked.
“Right here, sir,” Charles answered, apparently not wanting to be overlooked.
He pressed a button, and the view showed Elena in the lobby crossing to the elevator. He switched screens as the camera in the car showed her going up. Then a camera in the hall took over, and he saw her walking into her office.
There was no camera in the actual IT offices. When Charles switched back to the hall camera, the screen was blank.
“Can you account for the lapse?” Lincoln asked.
“No, sir.”
“Okay. Let’s see the rest of it.”
“Can I fast forward through the blank part?” Charles asked.
“Yes.”
Just after the camera came on, Elena was stepping rapidly out of the ladies’ room.
“She looks like she was in a hurry.”
“Maybe she had—you know—a tummy ache.”
“Or maybe she heard me getting out of the elevator,” Philip suggested.
“That’s a good point.” He looked from one guard to the other. “Go up and search the ladies’ room.”
“What are we looking for?”
“I’m not sure. You’ll know it when you see it.”
When the men had disappeared into the elevator, Lincoln looked at his watch. Where was Gallagher? He’d said he was coming right in. He should be here by now.
Shane kept his voice even. “Tell me again what you and Blake were doing together.”
He saw Elena suck in a sharp breath. “Nothing. I didn’t even know him outside of work.”
“But you say he was emailing you, and he trusted you enough to give you valuable information.”
She lifted one shoulder. “I can’t explain that. All he was to me was a nice man who showed me the ropes at S&D. Then he kept up an email correspondence with me.” She dragged in a breath and let it out. “He and I had a lot in common at work.”
“Right.” He shook his head. “And then it just happened that your brother needed your help to recover what Blake had stolen.”
She turned her hand palm up. “I can’t explain that, either.”
He snorted, then ordered himself not to jump to conclusions about her. There was no reason why she had to come to him. She could be on her way out of town by now. And she’d certainly been in trouble when she’d come to his apartment—and later when he’d gotten her out of that car.
To get her reaction, he said, “Of course, Kinkead knows you were in the building and that the cameras in the IT section were off.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Madre de Dios.”
“I assumed you turned the cameras off. How did you manage that?”
She clenched her teeth, then deliberately relaxed her jaw before answering. “My brother gave me this thing to use.”
“What?”
“Something that looked a little like a smartphone. It had a numeric pad. I guess he got it from the men who wanted me to search Arnold’s office,” she said, jumping ahead to anticipate his next question.