Going over the case again with his brothers there didn’t reveal anything they’d missed.
Misty added for good measure, “If Jack Bauer here didn’t shoot the prisoner, maybe we could have gotten somewhere with him. I mean really Einstein, did he tell you anything useful?”
“Fuck,” Josh said in reply. His brothers were right, he was hindering this investigation, letting his emotions run wild. “Yeah, he did actually. When I tipped him over and lit the blow torch, he started rambling in Spanish. He said something about the Russians and some gun running shipment that was lost, but they’ve just found it. He kept repeating that the Russians are running the show and not them.”
“The Russians, now that changes things tremendously. They are into some heavy shit from drugs, guns to women trafficking,” Malcolm told them. “Did he say anything about which Russian mob they’re working for?”
Josh shook his head. “No, I got interrupted before I could ask.”
Misty rolled her eyes and gave him the finger.
Junior started researching the Russian angle, updating and feeding his system with anything Malcolm or Shane told him to look for.
Josh, sitting on the couch next to his brother, closed his eyes. He’d been up for almost a day, and he knew he was running on empty.
“Hey, Josh…”
Josh opened his eyes confused slightly as he found Kenya sitting at the table in front of him. She was wearing just one of his t–shirts with her laptop open on the table.
Kenya looked over at him when he didn’t reply and said, “Hey, I need some help.”
“Okay,” Josh replied hesitantly.
“So Nickels and I are about to hit this compound, but we’re arguing about when to go in. He wants to go in at dawn, but I want to hit them as soon as the sun goes down. What do you think?”
Josh looked at her confusion etched on his face.
“Baby, what are you talking about?” He asked her.
She sighed and walked to him holding the laptop. When she sat next to him, she placed her laptop on his lap.
“Remember I told you about the game Nickels and I play? Well, we are trying to infiltrate this compound to get a suspect we’re looking for, and we need to know when the right time to go in is.”
Josh looked at the screen and was shocked at how real everything looked. Even though it was a virtual reality game, it looked like live footage Junior would have supplied his team to study a structure for any areas of weakness. Josh was impressed at how real this game looked. He studied every angle as Kenya showed him how to change the view of what he was looking at.
“So what do you think?” She asked him.
Josh shook his head. “Well, Sweets, with just a glance, you want to hit the building here.” He pointed to the side of the building. “This looks like the weakest point of the building. There seems to be a rotation of the guards, and this seems to be the place most vulnerable. You want to try and enter here and do it around three or four in the morning, just before the sun rises.”
He looked at Kenya, and she smiled at him. “Yeah, so what you’re saying is if this was your operation, you would enter there or…” she moved the laptop and replaced the machine with her center. “…would you enter here?”
She grinded her hips against him, and he gripped her hips.
“Well, that would depend,” Josh answered, smiling.
“Yeah on what?” Kenya asked, continuing to grind herself against him.
“On how bad you want it.”
She reached into his shorts and pulled him out. She grinned, raised up and slowly sank down on him.
Josh closed his eyes and moaned at the sweet feeling of his favorite place on earth.
“Shit Sweets…” Josh suddenly opened his eyes and found all eyes were on him.
“You all right, bro?” Malcolm asked.
Josh looked over at him. “Yeah, why?”
Malcolm smirked and shook his head. “That must have been some dream you were having.”
Josh sat up further shook his head and said, “You have no idea.”
Josh looked around the room, and his eyes landed on Junior. Something that has been eating at him for a while finally clicked.
He stood and said, “Junior, do you still have that game icon Kenya showed you?”
Junior shook his head. “No not on this computer.”
Josh moved quickly to his office to retrieve Kenya’s computer. When he came back, he opened it next to Junior, put in her codes and turned it to him.
“Log onto that game she showed you. When it comes up, figure out a way to send a message to that friend of hers, Nickels.”
Junior nodded and did as he was told.
“Who’s Nickels?” Misty asked.
“He’s a college friend, a genius with codes and hacking. He was the one that created her identity and helped her hide from her ex for all these years. She told me before that Nickels always had her back and looked out for her. If she was ever in any danger and he knew about it, he would tell her. I want to know what he knows if he knows anything or can figure out something we’re missing.”
“Seriously, you think he can help?” Shane asked Josh.
Josh nodded. “Yeah, I do. According to Kenya, he’s a child prodigy, and he’s smart as shit. Plus, he’s been keeping an eye on Kenya and anyone affiliated with her. He may have something that we could use.”
Malcolm was about to ask a question when they heard a phone ring. Everyone looked around and finally their eyes landed on Misty.
Misty sat up straight. “Why are you guys looking at me? My phone is right here.” She grabbed her phone from the table and held it up.
“Well, the sound is coming from where you are. If it’s not your phone, then whose is it?” Shane asked.
Misty’s eyes grew. “Oh shit. I almost forgot. I have Kenya’s phone. It’s been ringing off and on for hours.”
Frowning, Josh asked, “Well shit, did you answer it?”
“Of course, you idiot… but every time I do, no one says anything.”
The ringing stopped then started again. Josh moved to the table.
“Answer it, Misty.”
Misty pulled the phone from her bag and answered the call.
She placed it on speaker and said, “Hello?”
“Can I speak to agent Joshua Cooper?” they heard a male voice ask.
“This is him. Who am I speaking to?”
“Fuck, it’s about damn time. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve called? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours. You’re not in any government databases… how is that possible?”
Josh ignored his question and said, “Yeah, well, you have me now. Now would you mind telling me who you are?” Josh replied.
“Oh shit sorry, it’s Nickels. Has Kenya mentioned me?”
“Yes she has. I take it you know Kenya is missing?”
“Yes, I tried to call her and warn her, but she never picked up. She hasn’t called me back either, and she always calls back. Well to be quite honest with you, I think it wasn’t a fluke I haven’t gotten her.”
Josh’s eyebrows rose and he looked at Shane.
“Yeah and why is that?”
There was a slight pause before Nickels replied, “Um, can you turn on your television? There’s something I want to show you.”
Josh looked over at his brother sitting on the couch and nodded to the remote. Malcolm reached for the remote sitting on the table and turned on the television mounted on the wall in front of him. The TV sprang to life, and in just a few minutes a man’s face appeared on the screen. He looked to be in his early twenties with black hair that he wore back in what seemed like a ponytail, and intelligent brown eyes.
“Oh my,” Josh heard Misty whisper.
“Sorry, I figured a face to face would be better considering what I have to tell you.”
Josh moved to one of his dining room chairs and turned it to face his television.
“Alright Nickels, you have my undivided attention. Why do you think it wasn’t a fluke Kenya missed your call?”
“Because I think somehow the CIA is involved in all of this. I’ve worked for them in the past on various cases, and about a week ago they wanted me to hack into a specific database of some crazy madman, and I came across a huge virus. So naturally I worked on the virus until I was able to shut it down. Do you know how difficult that can be? It took me days upon days to do this, and quite honestly, I really don’t think I’ve completely mastered it. As a matter of fact...”
“Nickels, please get to the point of your story sooner rather than later,” Josh interrupted.
“Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, by the time I figured out the virus, I realized some of the Kenya alarms I set were going off. Since I’ve changed her identity, I’ve kept track of any inquires of the names Kenya Frost and Summer Dean. I saw your searches on her first as Summer then later I saw the Noah Baxter search. Very cleaver I might add.” Nickels looked at Junior and nodded his head.
Junior shrugged. “It took a long time to crack that though. You are masterful I will say that… it was genius when you sent me…”
“Look, you two you can compare brain sizes later, I need you to focus,” Josh admonished.
Nickels jumped slightly at Josh’s tone but recovered and added, “Sorry… so anyone who I found searching for both those names I would purposefully misdirect them and make sure that Summer Dean has no connection to Kenya Frost. Kenya is just someone who disappeared and hasn’t surfaced in five years. Since I was working on the virus, I didn’t get a chance to see who was searching for her. It wasn’t until a week later that I discovered someone else was looking for her, and a whole new identity was created with Summer’s current address but Kenya’s information. I knew for a fact I hadn’t created that identity, so I did some more research, and what I discovered I knew she was set up, and I knew she was in danger. That’s when I called her, but she didn’t answer.”