1st Case - James Patterson Page 0,49

of that explained what these sexting murders had to do with FNC’s mission. I just assumed from the evidence—from Eve—that some kind of further connection could be made here, if I dug deeply enough, or asked myself enough of the right questions.

What was the larger objective here? How did this invasive app at the heart of it all tie in? And for that matter, how was FNC coordinating with whoever was on the ground for them, stalking and executing these victims?

As usual, the questions were piling up faster than the answers. But one thing was clear: this case had just level-jumped to a matter of national security. Which put me in well over my head, but then again, nothing new there. If anything, I was getting used to feeling like I was drowning all the time. The trick was to just keep swimming.

So I did what I assumed Eve meant for me to do. I immediately called it all into Keats. It was only 5:00 a.m. when I left an emergency message on his secure line, but I heard back right away.

“Are you home?” he asked.

“Yeah. What do you want me to do?”

“Stay put. We’re coming to you.”

“We?” I asked.

“That’s right. Get yourself ready. It’s going to be … Well, just be ready,” he said.

But he didn’t say for what.

CHAPTER 53

I FIGURED I could either take time to make coffee for Keats’s team before they got to my place or I could keep learning as much as possible about all of this before someone told me to stop digging.

Guess which one I went with.

I texted A.A. first, but she didn’t answer right away. So I called and woke her up.

“Speak,” she said. Her voice was still thick with sleep, but at least I didn’t hear any snoring in the background. Not that Darren was on my list of worries right now.

“I’ll make it quick,” I said. “What do you know about FNC?”

I figured that would wake her up, and it did.

“The FNC?” she said. “As in the Free Net Collective? Seriously?”

“How much do you think you could find out about their current operations, if you really had to?” I asked.

I wasn’t going to break any confidentiality laws here, though I was definitely bending them a bit. I was on thin ice just by bringing this up, but nobody I knew outside the Bureau had deeper research skills than A.A. And nobody inside the FBI was going to share this kind of info with the cyber intern.

“That’s some dark web shit,” she said.

“I know.”

“Not that I couldn’t do it.”

“I know,” I said again. “That’s why I’m calling.”

I could hear A.A. moving around, probably pulling her laptop out from under the bed, where it usually slept.

“I’ve heard they use brute-force tools on some kind of massive scale. It’s how they crippled that power grid in Texas last year,” she said. “Why exactly are you asking, anyway?”

“Because I have a book report due in the morning,” I told her. She knew full well that I couldn’t give the real reason. And I knew full well that she’d be intrigued enough to keep going anyway.

“Fine. Just use me for my superior skills and then cast me aside,” she said.

“I knew you’d understand.”

That got a cute little growl out of her, but it was the last of the resistance.

“I’ll see what I can find out,” she said. “There’s a mock terrorism task force in the Graduate Women’s Group. I could probably pick a few brains over there, too, if you want.”

“As long as nobody knows it’s coming from me,” I said.

“Duh,” she said. “But Angela? I’d hate to think you were getting in over your head. Sometimes that kind of thing happens before you even realize it, and then it’s too late. I mean, this is you we’re talking about. You’re staying safe, right?”

I looked out my bedroom door, from which I could see George reading a paper at my kitchen table with a Glock 19 holstered on his hip.

“Never been safer,” I said. “Swear to God. Now go back to sleep. You can jump on this in the morning.”

“Yeah, right,” she said. “After everything you just told me? I’m wide awake.”

Which was basically what I’d expected her to say. “Okay, then, in that case—”

“I’m on it, Piglet. Talk to you soon.”

“Thanks, Pooh.”

I knew I could count on her. No matter what.

CHAPTER 54

HALF AN HOUR later, I had four federal agents clomping around my apartment and asking questions. I was sure the downstairs neighbors were