Emily breathed over the line. “Is Grand okay?”
“Yes. Confused, but okay.” I glanced over my shoulder. Mom still sat in the car.
“Mom, listen, this is real bad. I watched the video.”
“What?”
“The video. I downloaded it from our online backup account.”
No. My chin sank toward my chest. “Emily, I didn’t want you to do that! I don’t want you involved in this.”
“Mom, I make videos all day long, remember? Meanwhile, you’re out there running and hiding and scaring me to death. What did you expect me to do, just hang around and wait to hear from you? I’d go crazy. And it’s a good thing I didn’t.”
I swallowed hard. My brain was too tired to think of what consequences her action might have. And I didn’t like the raw fear in her voice.
“So I watched it over and over—and saw something. At the bottom of the video there’s noise. You probably didn’t see it. Sort of looks like a blurry picture or static on a TV. I brought my computer into work and used our equipment to study it more. Once I could make out the static, I saw it’s a long series of numbers and letters. Looks like an encrypted message.”
I blinked. Not once had I noticed any static on the video.
What to ask first? “Can you break the encryption?”
“No. You need the key.”
“Oh.”
“What if that’s what Morton Leringer was trying to tell you? He gave you the flash drive, right? Maybe he was trying to tell you where to find the key.”
I took a deep breath. My whole body felt weighted. “Maybe. He did try to say some word that started with K or C. Maybe the key’s in Raleigh?”
“Don’t know.”
My eyes closed. If I weren’t so tired, I could think. “So why are these people after me? I have a video that I can’t understand, with encrypted data I can’t read. What threat am I?”
Two new cars pulled into the gas station. I checked out the drivers, then turned away.
“Because they think Morton told you something. If he was killed for trying to stop people from committing some terrorist act, they’d be scared he told you where to find the key before he died. Maybe that key could stop the event.”
Emily’s words clawed through me. “Terrorist act?”
“I Googled a machine like the one in the video. It is a power generator, just like that deputy said. And then I found another video online that’s a lot like this one. Guess what it’s about? It was a CNN report from some years ago on how a power generator could be hacked into by terrorists and blown up. I think these guys who are chasing you are going to do that.”
Oh. Oh. “You mean they want to shut down electricity.” My words dropped like stones. “Why would Leringer be involved in such a thing? I researched him and found all the companies he owns. He looks like a successful businessman, not a terrorist.”
“I don’t think he is a terrorist. I think he found out about this plan—whatever it is—and was killed for it. The words he said to you are about stopping it.”
No wonder Morton had been so insistent. So terrified.
“And I told Harcroft and Wade everything Morton said. Now they want to kill me too.”
Both of those men must be in on it.
My knees went weak. My mother and I were caught up in some heinous terrorist plot? Those people would as soon kill you as look at you if you got in their way.
Which was exactly what they’d tried to do.
“Mom, something else. I should have told you before, but I was pretty much in shock. No one at the sheriff’s department had to tell anyone that you made a copy of the video. Those people could figure that out on their own. All they’d have to do is look at the properties of the file and see the date and time it was created.”
What? My mind reeled more. Why hadn’t I thought of that?
“So you should go to the police right now. You don’t have to be scared of them. You have a lot of reasons to be scared of the other guys. Besides, Wade and Harcroft need to know all this. If someone’s planning a terrorist act, they have to stop it.”
I shook my head. “Emily, they have the same video you have. In fact, they’ve got the original. If you could figure out it holds an encrypted message, don’t you think they could too? They must have shown it to their techs right away.”
And if the Half Moon Bay sheriff’s substation thought a terrorist act was about to occur, they wouldn’t sit on that information. Wouldn’t they call the FBI or somebody?
“Yeah,” Emily said. “They might know. If they have the software to study it.”
I hung on the phone, feeling sick. Split in two. I so wanted to believe I could go to the police right now and entrust myself and Mom into their protection. We wouldn’t have to run. They’d put Mom and me somewhere until they caught these guys. But . . .