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  “Except, the code isn’t working yet,” Callie pointed out.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The layer of dust on her car was no longer thin but at this point Callie didn’t care. She moved quickly from her house to her car early Saturday morning. It was the last day of the auction and they had a lot of work to do. Her mind was so preoccupied with thoughts of the decrypt code, she almost didn’t hear her neighbor calling to her.

  “Callie!” Ramona called.

  Callie stopped and waited for Ramona to catch up with her.

  Ramona held out a small portable computer drive.

  “I have the video you wanted on here,” Ramona said. “Hopefully, it will get your ten-year-old out of credit card debt.”

  Callie pocketed it with a smile. “Thanks. Can you give me the abbreviated version?”

  “It’s a teenage girl. Her face is clear on the video. I gave a copy to Juanita too. They’re planning to arrest her.”

  “Thanks. Speaking of Juanita, do you know if she’s on duty today?”

  Ramona crossed her arms. “You aren’t planning to do anything dangerous, are you?”

  Callie smiled. “There’s a lot of security out at the airport already.”

  Ramona narrowed her eyes. “Should I tell my daughter to expect a call from you?”

  Callie opened her car door. “It wouldn’t hurt.”

  She drove to the airport thinking that it helped to have a friend in the police force. It was also nice that her friend’s mom lived next door. Of course, Callie reciprocated by keeping an eye on Ramona when Juanita couldn’t. Not that it was much of a chore. Ramona never turned down an offer to play gin rummy on a Friday night.

  Greyson and the rest of the team was in the office waiting for her when she arrived.

  “I updated everyone on what happened yesterday and our suspicions,” Greyson said when she entered.

  “Hopefully, our suspicions are correct,” Callie said.

  “Your theory makes sense,” Kate said. “How are you planning to test it?”

  Julio held up a finger as he raised his phone. “Yeah, go ahead.” He looked over at Callie. “Are you expecting someone at the front gate?”

  “Yeah, they got here quicker than I thought they would. Sierra Knox and Michael Wolfe.”

  Julio responded to the person on the other end. “I’ll go escort them in,” he said before leaving the room.

  “Who are they?” Kate asked with a frown.

  “My office mates,” Callie said.

  Kate glanced at Greyson. “Are you sure this is a good idea? We don’t have any intel on them.”

  “I can tell you that they’ve worked on government contracts in the past,” Callie said. “I don’t know exactly what their security clearance level is, but I know they’ve been cleared.”

  Kate glanced at Lenora. Lenora went to her computer.

  “What are you hoping they’re going to do?” Nigel asked.

  “Test my theory.” Callie explained that they were the ones to find the piggyback decrypt code in the first place.

  Nigel nodded when she was done. “Makes sense to me.” He glanced over at the monitors. “I need to get out there.”

  “Looks like her office mates have an acceptable security clearance,” Lenora said from the other side of the room. “And then some,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Good luck,” Kate said to Callie and Greyson before following Nigel out.

  Zach returned to his computer.

  Greyson took a step closer to Callie. “Great idea getting your office mates here.”

  Callie smiled. “I thought so.” Her eyes drifted to a monitor.

  “Margaret is safe. You know that, right?” Greyson asked quietly.

  Callie pressed her lips together. She wanted to believe that. She knew there were extra precautions put into place. She just couldn’t stop from worrying about her.

  The office door opened and Sierra and Michael entered. Julio nodded to them all before leaving again.

  “Hey, Greyson.” Michael stretched out his hand to clasp Greyson’s.

  Callie watched as the usually reserved Sierra leaned in for a hug. She wondered how much time her office mates had spent with Greyson. And when it had happened. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

  He stepped back from Sierra’s hug and smiled at Callie before making the introductions to the others. Lenora remained where she was. Zach came around to greet them. Callie noticed that most of his attention seemed to be focused on Sierra. She realized that Zach was probably only two or three years younger than Sierra and Michael.

  “Callie explained what’s been happening here?” Greyson asked Sierra and Michael.

  “In her way,” Michael agreed.

  “She tried to explain the issue with the decrypt code to us,” Zach said with a wry grin.

  The three of them shared a laugh.

  Callie waved her hand. “I’m right here,” she reminded them.

  “In her defense, she is the one who connected the dots,” Greyson pointed out.

  “If there are dots to connect,” Zach said.

  “That’s what we’re here to figure out,” Sierra said as she looked around the room at the technology they had in place.

  Zach motioned toward another computer. “You can use that one,” he said to Sierra.

  Michael shifted the bag he had slung over his shoulder. “We brought our own.”

  Zach pointed behind them toward his computer.

  “There are some empty workstations back there that you can use to set up your equipment,” he said.

  Michael put his hand on the small of Sierra’s back and guided her to the empty desks. He took the one closest to Zach’s workstation. He guided Sierra to the empty desk on the other side of him.

  Sierra shot Callie a look before she sat down and began setting up her equipment.

  “We might want to get closer to the action as we begin to work,” Sierra said.

  “I’ll send one of the others with them when they go,” Zach said.

  Greyson nodded to Zach then turned to Callie.

  She was watching the monitors. She could see Philip in the room with her mother. Tessa was on another monitor in one of the smaller hangars. She had the carrier over her shoulder. Callie assumed the dog was inside.

  Greyson pointed to Tessa. “Notice anything different?”

  Callie looked at her again. She began to shake her head no, then got it. “The carrier is different.”

  “The police took the other one. I guess they want to test it for residue.”

  “To see if the food inside it was what killed Sheree.” Callie frowned at the monitor. “I guess I should call her Mary.”

  “Sheree works for me,” Greyson said.

  “Do you know if they’ve found anything with the original carrier?” Callie asked.

  “No. If they have found anything, they aren’t sharing it with us yet.”

  “Did you notice where the buyer reps are you’ve been following?” Callie asked.

  Greyson checked the monitors. “What do you mean?”

  Callie pointed. “They’ve split up. Marcus and Lucia are over there. Leon and Andre are over there.”

  “And Serena and Lee are in the main auction hangar.” Greyson rubbed his hand across his chin. “What do you suppose that means?”

  “I have no idea. They can bid on any car no matter which hangar they’re sitting in, right?” she asked.

  “Yes. They aren’t actually sitting near each other, even if they’re in the same hangar,” he pointed out.

  “Yeah.” Callie shook her head. “I don’t know. They definitely seem like they’re waiting for something to happen.”

  Greyson looked back at Sierra and Michael. They were typing away. Callie began heading for the door.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “I want to check in on my mom,” Callie said as she went through the door. She didn’t have to turn around to know that Greys
on was right behind her.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Margaret held up her hand.

  “I can’t take the credit for any of that,” she said with a smile. “That goes to all of the people who were kind enough to donate both their time and their money. Without them, none of it would have been possible.”

  The young woman interviewing her turned back to the camera and signed off.

  “And that’s a wrap,” the young woman with the microphone said. “Thanks again for giving us your time.”

  “Oh, it’s my pleasure,” Margaret said. “It’s all for the very deserving causes in our area. Between the party last weekend and the various events since then, I’m happy to say that there are several charities and scholarships with much larger coffers thanks to the kindness of those donating.”

  The woman handling the video camera quickly gathered her gear and nodded to the reporter that she was ready to go. Margaret waved to them as they left before turning to find someone else waiting for her.

  “Darlings, you came back.” Margaret crossed the room to join Callie and Greyson.

  “Another interview?” Greyson said with a smile. He pulled the wrapper from the muffin he’d snagged as soon as they’d entered.

  “It’s very kind of them to make the time for us,” Margaret said. “The more the word gets out, the bigger we can be next year. That means more donations.”

  “Already planning ahead?” Greyson asked. “Why am I not surprised?”

  Margaret smiled as she looked around the room, then she took a step closer to them and turned her back to the others.

  “I’m hearing odd comments,” Margaret said.

  “What kind of odd comments,” Callie asked.

  “And who has been making them?” Greyson tossed the balled-up wrapper into the trash.

  “It’s been more than one person and only when they think I can’t hear them,” Margaret said.

  “What are they saying?” Callie asked again.

  “That’s the thing,” Margaret clasped her hands together. “It hasn’t been any single comment.”

  Callie frowned. “That’s as clear as mud.”

  Margaret sighed. “I know, I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m getting the impression that some of the people here are waiting for something to happen.” She made a face. “No, that they’re expecting something to happen. It’s not as though they’re wondering if it will happen. They seem to believe that it will. Soon. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling they think it’s something important. And it isn’t anyone that I know. It’s just a very few of the people on the fringes. You know, the ones that came here with someone else.”

  Callie looked around the room. There were monitors located in strategic places so that the people taking advantage of Elliot’s generosity could watch the auction proceedings from more comfortable surroundings rather than rub elbows with the masses on hard metal bleachers. Here, with a gracious hostess, they had catered food, a wide variety of beverages dispensed by a bartender, access to private restrooms, comfortable chairs, and an endless stream of friends from their own crowd.

  Periodically, when something came up on the auction block that interested them, they would either step out and bid themselves or send a buyer rep to handle it for them. Once the purchase was completed, they either hung around to boast about their new acquisition or faded away, to be replaced by the next wave coming in.

  Callie didn’t recognize any of the people that were currently there. She realized that they were all from Elliot’s large circle of friends, or knew someone who was, but that didn’t mean anything to her. She had no clue who they were or what harm they might do to her mother under the right circumstances. Perhaps it was time for her mother to go.

  “I know that look,” Margaret said. “I’m perfectly fine here. In addition to the regular security staff being everywhere, that man from the military has practically been my shadow.”

  Callie assumed her mother meant Julio. She made a mental note to thank him.

  “There’s something else.” Margaret took a step closer. “Apparently, Tessa’s behavior has been very odd these past couple of days.”

  “What do you mean?” Greyson asked. “Odd in what way?”

  Margaret waved her hands vaguely. “She’s been short-tempered, for one thing.”

  “That may be due to all the attention the police have been giving her since Sheree’s death,” Greyson pointed out. “She is, no doubt, currently their prime suspect.”

  “Hopefully, they’re no longer looking at Philip,” Callie said.

  Margaret looked unconvinced. “I suppose. I can only tell you that she’s been so difficult, Philip had to fire her.”

  Callie was surprised he’d kept her employed as long as he did.

  “When did that happen?” Greyson asked.

  “Yesterday, I believe. He just told me today.” Margaret waved to a group of people who entered from the hangar where the main auction was being held.

  One of them gave her a thumbs up as they passed. Margaret congratulated them on their new purchase.

  Callie turned to Greyson. “So, technically, Tessa has no reason to be here today.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she was here,” Margaret said. “I haven’t seen her. I can tell you that when Philip fired her, he said that she laughed at him.”

  “Maybe we should catch up with her now,” Greyson said to Callie.

  “If you do, be very careful,” Margaret warned. “According to Philip, her behavior has been extremely erratic. She’s been having strange mood swings. She even started ordering Philip around and became incensed when he wouldn’t listen to her.”

  Someone else entered the room and waved to get Margaret’s attention. She excused herself and crossed the room to greet them.

  “What are you thinking?” Greyson asked.

  “I’m thinking my mother needs to go someplace safe,” Callie muttered under her breath.

  She lifted her hand when a door on the opposite side of the room opened and Sierra stuck her head in. Michael grabbed a muffin as they crossed the room to join Callie and Greyson.

  “Did you find something?” Greyson asked.

  Michael popped half of the muffin in his mouth. Sierra answered for them.

  “We found the code, yes.” Sierra looked at Callie. “Zach mentioned the problems Leslie is having with the ATMs. I think we can help them with that now.”

  “She’ll be happy, thanks. Can you explain it to us?” Callie asked.

  “It was pretty much what we told you before. The only variation is how the extra code gets into the system to wrap itself around the real decrypt code,” Sierra said.

  “What do you mean?” Greyson scanned the room, tracking the people in it.

  “It looks like it’s finding its way in mostly through human error. For example, with the bank’s host systems for the ATMs being infected, I would guess someone clicked on an email attachment, brought in an infected portable drive, or downloaded malicious code by accident. Something like that.”

  “That doesn’t seem very effective,” Callie said as she wrinkled her forehead.

  “It is if you can get people to do the hard work of spreading it all over the world for you,” Sierra said. “All you have to do is take advantage of it once it’s in place. But mostly I would have to agree with you. It’s not the way I would have done it. The author of the code has a much better chance of making big money if they only sold it to the highest bidder.”

  “You mean, if they hadn’t gotten it into the other systems?” Callie wasn’t sure she understood.

  “Right. The longer the code is in the wild, the better the chance that people like us can figure out a way to protect a system against it,” Sierra said.

  Callie frowned. “Then why did they do it? Let it loose in the wild like that?”

  Sierra gave a half shrug. “I’m guessing they were having problems with their code all along. It was the only way they could figure out
how to test it, hoping to get it to work correctly.”

  “Whoever owned the code could also target certain systems and try to get it in a different way depending on the situation,” Michael said. “You could just as easily pay someone who’s already working inside to help spread it to a specific system. They wouldn’t have to rely on someone clicking on an email attachment.”

  “Just trust us that there are all kinds of ways to disseminate it,” Sierra said. “Either way, it sounds like it’s already found its way to some major systems. There’s Leslie’s bank, for example.”

  “The smart car we tested,” Michael added. “Who knows where it is already?”

  “So, what do we need to do?” Callie asked.

  “We’ll let the right people in our world know. They’ll make sure the patches are pushed out to protect people from it.” Sierra’s eyes were drawn to the monitors showing the auction. “You just need to stop the person who wrote it from selling it to the bad guys.”

  “Yeah, we think we figured out who wrote it,” Michael said.

  Greyson shifted his gaze from watching the room back to Michael. “Who was it?”

  “It actually unpronounceable. They use a symbol.” Michael pulled a slip of paper from his front pocket and handed it to Greyson.

  Callie leaned over his shoulder to look at it. “That’s it.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I said.” Michael frowned at her.

  “No, I mean that’s the signature they told me about at Philip’s company. That’s what Tessa used to go by when she was a programmer.” She turned to Greyson. “There’s no doubt now. She has to be the one who took over from Sheree.”

  “It’s a good thing she changed careers,” Michael said. “Her code is faulty.”

  “It’s not going to be fun being her if she actually manages to sell it,” Sierra said. “Once they find out it isn’t stable, they’re going to go after her.”

  “We still need to stop everything before that happens.” Greyson turned a grim face toward Sierra and Michael.