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Dark Justice(75)



Emily laid a hand on her arm.

Shaved Head glared at my mother, then placed a hand of mock gallantry on his chest. “Forgive me for not introducing myself. I’m Stone.”

“Stone? That’s your name?”

“Remember that car accident? Morton Leringer?”

Mom blinked, as if trying to catch up to Stone’s turn of subject. “He was my friend.”

“What did he tell you?”

Something flicked across my mother’s face. “You’re the Bad People, aren’t you?”

Tex and the third man chuckled. An evil sound.

Stone smirked. “Yeah, we’re bad, all right. Which is why you better listen to us, old lady.”

Mom gazed at him, puzzlement creasing her forehead. She swallowed hard. “Don’t hurt my girls.”

“He’s not, Grand,” Emily whispered. “I’m fine.”

My head throbbed and my face burned.

The man looked at his watch. Mumbled to himself, “Four thirty.”

I didn’t react. Didn’t want to show them I knew what that meant. Two and a half hours. It didn’t matter what we did now. It was too late.

So why were we here?

Sudden clarity washed through me, leaving me cold and quivery. Even if it was too late to stop tonight’s blackout, that was only Phase 1. These men needed to make sure I hadn’t given someone the key. Someone who’d have the time to stop tomorrow night’s attack. And the one after that.

Stone would not stop until he got that information from me.

We were dead, all three of us. These men had shown us their faces. Once they learned what we knew . . .

They would not let us get out of here alive.





Chapter 48


SPECIAL HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE INVESTIGATION INTO FREENOW TERRORIST ACTIVITY OF FEBRUARY 25, 2013

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

TRANSCRIPT

Representative ELKIN MORSE (Chairman, Homeland Security Committee): After you learned that you needed to look for Emily Shire as well as her mother, what were your next steps?

WADE: I knew the FBI task force and Homeland Security had begun checking computers that powered the western electrical grid generators. If these computers had been infected with a virus that was set to wreak its havoc at 7 p.m. Pacific Time, I hoped they would find it and be able to stop it.

MORSE: But there would be no stopping the virus without the key to unlock that encryption, correct? And you did not have that key.

WADE: Yes. Still, I hoped there was another way to stop the attack. The task force had informed me that, even if we were to locate the key within the next few hours, it would prove difficult to insert the code into infected computers in time.

MORSE: How convenient for the terrorists. So now in your recounting, we are up to what time?

WADE: Around 3:45. I had numerous deputies, including Deputy Harcroft, researching what connection “Raleigh” might have to Morton Leringer or Nathan Eddington. We weren’t sure which one of those men had hidden the key, so we needed to look at both of them. Leringer’s home was about to be searched a second time, as was Eddington’s office at StarrCom. Then at 4:15 I received two calls back-to-back.

The first was from the Fresno Police Department. Hours earlier I’d requested that an officer stop by the residence of Margaret Dexter, Hannah Shire’s aunt. An officer had done so, but had been refused entrance. A neighbor told the officer she’d seen two women matching the description of Hannah Shire and Carol Ballard drive into Ms. Dexter’s garage in a Ford Escort. On that basis the Fresno department pursued a warrant to search the premises. In the house they found no sign of Hannah Shire and her mother but did discover her car. She must have been there and left again in Mrs. Dexter’s car. I was in the process of requesting they put out a BOLO for the vehicle when the second call came in. This was the call about the kidnapping.

MORSE: From San Mateo police.

WADE: Yes. An eyewitness had seen a kidnapping in the Sequoia Hospital parking lot in Redwood City. According to the witness, two men had pulled three women from a car and shoved them into a gray van. A third man was driving. The car had been left still running. It was the vehicle belonging to Mrs. Dexter. Inside, San Mateo police found numerous items, including a purse belonging to Hannah Shire, as well as a laptop bag containing a computer and wallet belonging to Emily Shire. In that bag was also a flash drive, and a piece of paper with a long string of numbers and letters written on it, plus the “Phase” text. All of this was the same information we’d extracted from the video.

MORSE: Some guns were also in the car, I understand?

WADE: Hannah Shire’s purse contained a Chief’s Special handgun. A second, much larger weapon was found wrapped in a plastic bag and stuffed in a tote bag, which had been placed in the trunk.