For The Love Of Laurel (9 page)

It was a week before Josh got back to Laurel. As eager as she was to know what the code said, she knew better than to call him. Josh worked in his own way, in his own time. He wouldn’t allow you to rush him. “Suppose I made a critical error because someone was on my ass and it caused World War Three?” It was his stock question and answer to people who pushed for results too fast. How did one answer a question that wasn’t quite rhetorical? That was when he first started.
Did it still apply?
she wondered. He said his computer did all, well most, of the work now.
So why doesn’t he call?

When the call finally came, she nearly didn’t answer it. The caller ID said
Sse Eeb Esrom
. After staring at it for a few moments, she giggled and answered on the third ring. “Smartass.”

“It took only three rings. You’re getting better.”

“No, I’ve just been waiting for your answer so I’ve had codes on the brain for a week,
S. B. Morse.”

“Sorry about that, but I have work I actually get paid for that comes first. And I doubt you have the proper security clearance even if I can decrypt it, and I don’t have all the info I need to do that. Unfortunately, you are going to be stuck with Code-Brain Syndrome.”

Laurel felt like her heart stopped. “Are you saying you decided not to tell me?”

“Correct—assuming I can even decrypt it. Who was the recipient? Who let you read the email?”

She hesitated. Why would he want to know that? She asked him.

“Because if it’s the kind of communication I suspect it is, it’s on a ‘need to know’ basis. Not to sound trite and stupid but it could be a matter of national security. Or, it could be nothing, in which case I will tell you what it says—if I can decrypt it.”

She wasn’t about to implicate Dylan in anything. She didn’t believe he’d done anything to warrant what might happen if she told Josh his name.

“It’s a long story.”

“Shorten it.” Laurel squeezed the phone so hard that it hurt the palm of her hand. “What’s his name, Laurel?”

Now Josh was in his rare, deadly serious mode, and she knew she’d made a huge mistake in calling him. Worse, there was no way out. If she didn’t tell him, he might well, friend or not, send someone around to question her or take her to CIA headquarters and torture her or whatever it was they did to people who pried too closely into government affairs.

“Dylan Kraft,” she said, mentally begging Dylan’s forgiveness.

“Dylan?”

“You know him?”

“You could say that. We’re cousins.”

“Oh great. Just what I need. What are you planning to do? Call him?”

“Well, there is a little question of why he let you see the encrypted email.”

“Which I couldn’t decrypt and I’m sure he knew that. Good luck getting him to tell you.”

“Oh, I think he will. I’ll get back to you.”

Laurel tossed and turned. Dylan deserved an explanation and a head’s up. What would Josh do? Would he turn Dylan in or let it go because he hadn’t told her anything anyway? She would never have called Josh if she had known he and Dylan were family. By morning, she still hadn’t figured out how to tell her bodyguard of her deceitfulness.

She went to the office to finalize the records on Gloria’s case. At noon, she walked across the street to the shopping center and got a deli sandwich to take back to the office. She’d offered to get one for Sue but Sue had made plans for lunch. When she got back, Sue handed her a message from. I. M. Criptos.

“Who’s this?”

“He wouldn’t say but was adamant I write the name just as you see it.”

“Thanks.” She went into her office, shut the door, and started laughing.

She dialed the number. It was picked up on the first ring. “Mr. Criptos speaking.”

“Don’t tell me—you solved the Kryptos cipher.”

“I wish. I did some checking and spoke at length with the party mentioned previously.”

“Good God. You not only break codes, you talk in code. But at least this I understand. Please go on.”

“First came the laughter. Lots of it. Then the line, ‘I wasn’t sure she would actually do it.’ I explained my part in it and he said it was fine, but I couldn’t tell you. This, after I spent ten minutes telling him how well we knew each other but, as I figured, he still said I couldn’t tell you what the message said. I couldn’t decrypt it anyway, because he wouldn’t give me the key.”

“I don’t believe this. Just who is your cousin that he can dictate what you are allowed to do?”

“You should ask him. My lips are sealed. Sorry, Laurel. If it will make you feel any better, he did say he would have to tell you sooner or later, but not on his timetable. On whose timetable, he didn’t say. I told him you’d be pissed as hell.”

“You’re right. What did he say to that?”

“He said, and I quote, ‘So be it’.”

Chapter 13

Laurel knocked on Dylan’s door. When he opened it, she said, “You son-of-a-bitch.”

“Hope you’re having a good day, too, though it doesn’t sound like it. To what do I owe the pleasure of having my mother slandered?” He stepped back. “And why don’t you come in and finish your name-calling behind closed doors?”

Arms folded, she swept past him into his living room. “You know very well why I’m here. You told me where to get the so-called code, but I’m beginning to think you just put it there for me to find and it says nothing.”

“Most people would take it as a joke. Therefore, you
do
think it says something. Something important. Do you honestly think I would let you see it if it was?”

“Why do you always have to sound so reasonable? It just makes me madder. I’m going to work on seeing just how far you can be pushed before you blow.”

“You don’t want to see me extremely angry. And, for God’s sake, sit down.”

She sat and unfolded her arms, but leaned forward in the chair. “Whatever you want me to think, I know the message is important. Josh Poole—you know him—says he thinks it is, and I believe him. So you throw me off the track by letting me see it, knowing I won’t be able to decode it. But you didn’t count on me knowing someone like Josh.”

“But he couldn’t tell you anything, could he?”

“You know he couldn’t. You made sure of that. Do you get some thrill out of bedeviling me?”

His tone changed ever so slightly. “So I bother you, do I?” He sat across the coffee table from her.

She ignored the catch in her breath. “
Bedevil
. There’s a difference.”

“Arguing semantics?” She could hear the amusement in his tone.

“You think this is funny, don’t you? I can tell you don’t expect me to decipher it, so why let me find it at all?”

“At the time, it seemed the right thing to do. I wasn’t trying to test your intelligence or, as you say, bedevil you. I really thought you deserved to know.”

“Know what?”

He ignored the question. “But after thinking it over, I realized it could put you in danger—and me, for that matter. The problem is I still think you deserve to know, but I can’t tell you what it says any more than Josh can. However, I will go this far. Delete all your emails, but don’t delete your email accounts.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a red flag for the government.”

“Why would they care about my emails?”

“Just do what I ask for once. Please. Don’t use your email accounts at home and work ever again. Set up new ones using false information. Don’t use anything that could identify you in any way. If there are any emails you want to save, there are a number of ways to do it. Do your research, but be quick. Don’t save the one you got from my email. None of this is a hundred percent secure, but it’s probably enough for now.”

She frowned. “Surely you realize I copied and pasted the code to Josh and Word. Why is this necessary? And since I got your email and sent you one, don’t you have to do the same?”

“No. The message came to my laptop, which I bought with false info so the government wouldn’t know who it was from even if they grabbed all Google’s email accounts. They would just know the general area it was sent from.”

“They can do that? Get the email accounts?”

“As long as you use false info, you should be fine.”

“Geez. Long live the government of the people, by the people, but not for the people.”

“Yep. After all that is done, go to your home page. You’ll see “safety” on the right. Set it to ‘In Private’ browsing.”

Laurel felt as if her brain was spinning, but she agreed to do what he asked. She still couldn’t figure why neither Dylan nor Josh wouldn’t just tell her what the damn email said. Surely Dylan could tell her in the privacy of her own home or taking a walk in the yard, unless he was paranoid enough to think the feds had bugs planted everywhere. No. He must have changed his mind about letting her know.

“How do I know you aren’t just doing all this cloak and dagger stuff to make me feel foolish? To tell me not to be so nosy?”

“Your father is gone, Laurel. You need to learn to trust someone else.”

“I trust Mari.”

“Of course you do. So do I, but she wouldn’t be much help if you were in trouble.”

“Oh, I get it. I need to trust a man. Someone like you.”

“That would be a good beginning.”

“What on earth for? Except for my father, every man I have ever known has proven untrustworthy. Even Josh, my best college buddy, turned out to be a rat.”

“Or maybe, like me, he is thinking of your best interests. I would never harm you or allow you to be harmed. Deep down, I believe you know that. At the same time, I understand. I know you had a boyfriend once who violated your ultimate trust.”

She was stunned. “How do you know that?”

“There’s a lot more I know about you than you realize. I knew about the bars, places you could go to meet people.”

“Bet my father loved those reports.”

“I never told him. I didn’t figure there was any reason to. You were entitled to some privacy. I’ve been in enough of those places to know what they’re like. Probably the worst that could happen to you would be contracting an STD and that wasn’t my business—or his, for that matter.”

“A lot you know,” she said, her tone laced with bitterness. “STD’s aren’t the only thing a woman has to worry about in those places. I almost discovered that too late.”

He hesitated for a moment. “My God, Laurel, were you . . .?”

“I said
almost.
Thank God for my Tae Kwon Do training. So, you can see why I don’t trust men. Literally or figuratively, sooner or later they’re gonna screw you.”

“Even your father?”

“Of course not. I already told you he’s the one exception.”

Dylan’s tone was as solemn as she had ever heard it. “You can certainly trust that he loved you, but he was much more than your father. Did you trust him in everything?”

“I don’t understand what you’re asking.”

“You trust that he loved you, but did you always trust his veracity?”

She felt chagrined. “Yes. Until I read those emails in Dr. Gunderson’s office. I discovered there was a whole side to him I never knew. I asked myself why he didn’t trust me enough. Was he too ashamed?”

“People do devious things to others every day. Women as well as men. Their motives may differ, but the end result is sometimes unspeakable treachery. In many ways, Gerald was a hard man. He could kill enemies of the country without remorse—it’s what he got paid to do. In that, he was all business. He had two emotions, love for you and hate for anyone who threatened your happiness or well-being, no matter who they were.” His tone was soft but unyielding.

She had a sharp intake of breath. “Are you saying his killing wasn’t confined to enemies?”

“Yes, it was. But not just enemies of the U.S. Those enemies were not even people to him. They were just objects to deal with. If the powers-that-be sent him to do a job, he did it. He didn’t care for most people, only tolerated them. But he would have counted as his worst enemies anyone who did something wrong to you, and have no compunction about making them pay.”

She stood frozen, refusing to process what she’d just heard until she could no longer deny it.

“You’re lying. He wasn’t like that. You didn’t know him.”

“I’m sorry, Laurel. I think I’ve already said too much, and not enough.”

She ran out of the apartment, across the lawn. Once inside her house, she sank to the floor in disbelief. “No, Daddy. No. You didn’t, you didn’t. It isn’t true, it can’t be. I won’t believe it.” But she knew she did believe it. Adam’s fatal car accident had been her father’s doing. Maybe deep inside, she had always wondered. It just seemed too convenient. Gerald would go to any lengths to protect her and her feelings. What kind of man was he?

Dylan said he had two emotions. Apparently it meant nothing to him to kill. How could he be such a monster? Dylan had to be wrong. He had to be.
I couldn’t have lived my whole life with Daddy and never once have seen that side of him. Yet, I remember the emails between Dylan and Miles. Those were hard enough to stomach. My father was a paid assassin and now Dylan is telling me he didn’t just murder the bad guys
.

“Oh, God, Adam, I’m so sorry.” She sat on the floor and sobbed. She hated Dylan. Why did he have to tell her? Why couldn’t he just let her keep her good memories of her father alive? There was no reason he had to ruin her life. She wanted him gone for good. She and Mari would be just fine.

She balled her hands into fists. “Goddamn you, Dylan. Goddamn you to hell.”