MORSE: But you did not tell them about the video.
WADE: At the time I didn’t believe it necessary.
MORSE: Some members of this committee see that as a rather convenient belief.
WADE: Nothing about that day was convenient, Mr. Chairman.
MORSE: Well, while you were busy chasing Mrs. Shire and her mother, and focusing on these murders instead of the video, the zero hour of 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time was fast approaching, was it not? And despite the working together of you and your colleagues at the substation, and the San Carlos police, and the California Highway Patrol—not one thing was being done to stop it.
Chapter 34
Monday, February 25, 2013
Stone stood in front of his TV, legs apart and arms crossed, watching the news. More pleas for Hannah Shire to turn herself in. More posturing by Sergeant Wade.
No mention of the video. Stone narrowed his eyes at the screen. Couldn’t be better.
His cell phone rang—Tex. Relief shot through him. “You get her?”
“She got away.” Tex sounded enraged.
“You let her get away?”
“I didn’t ‘let’ her. She hid in a restaurant and escaped. She had help. But I talked to people who saw her go. She’s with a white male in his fifties. Driving a black Nissan.”
“Terrific, but you have no idea where they went.”
“I’ll find her.”
“You let her get away once.”
“I’ll find her.”
“You don’t have much time.”
Traffic noises sounded over the line. “Stone. I’ll die before I fail to come through for you.”
Stone knew he meant it. Tex and his girlfriend, Bo—both of them lived for FreeNow.
He eyed the TV. That video of Eddington’s little girl and her stuffed dog was playing again. Too bad for that family. Eddington should have thought of them before he turned traitor.
Stone was tired of men not coming through for him.
“Let’s just see that doesn’t happen, Tex.” He punched off the line.
Stone checked his watch. Eleven o’clock. In eight hours the cyber worm they’d released into the targeted power generators would go into action. Nothing would stop it except the code he’d instructed Eddington to encrypt on that video. The video was their backup plan, a way to halt the worm’s destruction if something went wrong. Stone had instructed Eddington to hide the code’s encryption key in a place no one would find it. When he turned traitor and gave the video to Leringer, Eddington must have also told the man where to find the encryption key. Had Leringer told Hannah Shire? Even if he had, now that Wade had ensured Shire and her mother were pariahs in hiding, their finding the key wasn’t likely.
Still, not likely wasn’t good enough.
Stone jabbed in the private number to one of his badges—a number known only by him and a few members of FreeNow. The first ring cut off. “Hi.”
“You take care of it?”
“It’s done.”
The TV had turned to commercials. Stone pressed the mute button.
“Something else,” the badge said. “Roz was found dead in his car. Shot four times. He had Shire’s computer and backup drive.”
The information jagged through Stone’s veins. “Who killed him?”
“Can’t be sure, but it looks like Hannah Shire.”
Roz’s voice, sputtering, breathy, when he’d called. Stone’s theory had proven right. The man had already been shot. “Where’s the computer and extra drive?”
A second’s pause. “Also taken care of.”
Why did that sound like a lie? “You sure?”
“It’s done.”
Stone nodded, a smile on his face. About time these loose ends of potential evidence were sewn up. No thanks to Roz. Now just one danger remained.
“Stone, I have one more thing. Not sure if it’ll help, but . . . Shire’s got an aunt in Fresno. Margaret Dexter. And a policeman not far from that area thinks he may have seen Shire’s car heading that direction.”
Why hadn’t Tex discovered this aunt? Stone had a gut feeling Emily Shire would be headed to the same place. He smiled. “Good.”
He hung up, more than satisfied.
His next call was to Tex. “Get back here,” he growled, then punched off the line.
Humming to himself, Stone searched his cell’s address book for the number of Mack, his main man in Fresno.
Chapter 35
I buffed my face with both hands. The short sleep had made me feel worse. My body may as well have been drugged and wrapped in chains.
Aunt Margie stuck her head in the bedroom door. “Emily all right?”
“For the moment. She’s on her way here. She’s being chased too.”