Firing Line Read online

  Recker might have laughed if he wasn’t so concerned about his friend. Jones still didn’t appear to have any idea they were in the same room. Jones had a screwdriver in hand and looked like he was about to start surgery on one of his computers.

  Recker needed to get his attention. “David!”

  Jones continued working without even glancing at him.

  “David!”

  Still nothing. Recker took a deep breath. They were going to have to try something else. He nudged Haley on the arm.

  “Should we do the old Texas Two Step?”

  Haley shrugged. “Might as well, I guess. Nothing else seems to be working.”

  Recker and Haley walked through the mess, trying not to step on anything that might be important. They went around the desk, coming up on Jones from behind. They each grabbed one of his arms and picked him up off the ground, and took him over to the couch, putting him back down in front of it.

  “What are you guys doing?” Jones finally said.

  “Oh, he notices us,” Haley replied.

  “I really had my doubts for a while,” Recker said.

  “What are you two talking about?” Jones asked.

  “Doesn’t matter. Would you mind telling us what’s going on here?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What do I mean?” Recker said. He looked around and stuck his arm out, pointing to the mess. “This is what I mean. Look at it. What the hell happened?”

  “Oh. I’m just working.”

  Recker raised an eyebrow. “No. I’ve seen you working. This is not working. This is… complete disarray. And I’ve never seen you this unorganized.”

  “It also wasn’t like this this morning,” Haley said.

  Jones’ head started moving, though not denying or confirming anything. He just seemed frazzled. It looked like he didn’t know what to say.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look more flustered than you do right now,” Recker said. “What is going on?”

  Jones’ eyes bounced around the room, though he couldn’t focus on anything in particular. “It’s just, uh… things are happening.”

  “Can you be any more cryptic? What is happening?”

  “We’ve got problems. Major problems.”

  “With what? Tell us what’s going on.”

  “There’s… there’s something out there.”

  Recker looked at the window and pointed with his thumb. “Out there?”

  Jones glanced at the window, but quickly waved it off. “Out there… somewhere.”

  “David, you’re really not making much sense right now.”

  “Someone knows who we are.”

  “There’s a lot of people who know who we are,” Haley said. “That’s not a big secret at this point.”

  “No, it goes deeper than that.”

  Recker and Haley looked at each other, still not getting any answers they could use to decipher what the problem was.

  “Who’s this someone you’re talking about?” Recker asked.

  Jones rubbed his eyes, looking like he’d had too long of a day already. “I found a message on one of my computers.”

  “What kind of message?”

  Jones put his hand in his pocket and removed his phone. He then pulled up a picture and showed it to his friends. “This kind.”

  Recker and Haley looked at the photo together. It looked like some kind of message.

  “I know who you are.”

  They gave the phone back to Jones.

  “I know who you are,” Recker said. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means we’re in trouble.”

  “From?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Jones answered.

  “David, you’re not making a whole lot of sense. So you got this message. So what?”

  “Somebody’s coming for us.”

  “I’m not sure how you get that from this.”

  “In itself, it might be easy to brush off. But not combined with the other thing.”

  “What other thing?” Haley asked.

  “Someone tried to hack into my system.”

  “Someone tried?”

  “And succeeded,” Jones said. “At least to some degree.”

  A concerned look now formed on the faces of both Recker and Haley.

  “We got hacked?” Recker asked.

  Jones closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes.”

  “How does that happen? That’s not supposed to happen.”

  “It’s not. I don’t know how yet. I don’t think it’s bad. I believe I caught it before it ratcheted up to a higher level.”

  Recker started walking around the mess. “So what are you doing with all this?”

  “I’ve shut everything off, and I’ll slowly turn it all back on one by one. I’ll go through everything as I do, making sure the system or computer is not infected.”

  “How long is that gonna take?”

  “Probably days.”

  Recker crossed his arms and shook his head. “This isn’t supposed to be feasible.”

  “It’s not. Like I said, I don’t know how this has happened.”

  “How did you find that message?” Haley asked.

  “It just popped up on the screen.”

  “So it was definitely meant for you to see it,” Recker said.

  “No doubt about it,” Jones replied.

  “This brings up a lot of questions, and not many answers.”

  “No answers as of now.”

  “Is this directed at all of us or one of us?”

  “Doesn’t really matter, does it?” Haley asked. “An attack on one is an attack on all.”

  “No, but it might make tracking it down a little easier if we know which one of us this is directed at.”

  “I’m going to make an assumption and say it’s directed at me,” Jones said.

  “Why would you make that assumption?” Recker asked.

  “Because of my background, my work with computers, and my ability to put things like this together. I believe this is something meant for me.”

  “That would make sense,” Haley said. “Mike and I don’t have a computer background. If someone was trying to send us a message, I’d have to think they’d deliver it another way.”

  “Maybe,” Recker said. “We need to find whoever this is, though, because I can guarantee this probably won’t be the end of it. I doubt someone hacked the system just to say hi.”

  “No, there is definitely a purpose behind it,” Jones replied. “One that we may not know the answer to for a while.”

  “Let’s hope we find it faster than that. I’m not walking around out there knowing someone might have us tagged. We need to find out who this is and how much they know.”

  “That is what I’m aiming to do.”

  “So are we out of commission for a few days?” Haley asked.

  “I’m going to try and get some of the system up and running tonight,” Jones answered. “At least a portion of it. I’ll see how that goes. But the entire system will take several days, most likely.”

  “What can we do to help?”

  “Honestly, not much. It’s my system. Only I know what’s going on with it, and how it operates. There’s really nothing you guys can do in the meantime.”

  “So what are we supposed to do?”

  “Go home, get some rest, relax for… well, a few hours at least. Like I said, maybe I can have a portion of this up tonight.”

  Recker looked over at the door, another thought going through his mind. And it wasn’t a pleasant one. “There’s something else we gotta think about.”

  “Which is?” Jones asked.

  “What if whoever this is already knows we’re here?”

  “You mean the office?” Haley asked.

  Recker nodded. “That’s right. I’m not sure if it’d be wise for us to leave right now.”

  Jones didn’t seem to be as concerned as his friend was. “We all know the office is secure enough. There're cameras, alarms, a steel door, trust me, nobody’s coming through here.”

  “You’re also not going to be able to fend off a squad of people coming in here that have bad intentions.”

  “I won’t have to.”

  “One of us should stay here, just in case.”

  “It’s not necessary,” Jones said. “Go home, relax. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”

  “And what if that message was a warning, and in a couple of hours, there’s five guys with guns outside that door?”

  “I’ll be alerted long before they get in.”

  “OK, so you’ll be alerted. Then what?”

  “Then I’ll escape,” Jones replied.

  Recker’s head swiveled around. “Am I missing something? Are you going through that window and repelling down to the ground? Do you have a few bombs planted under the floor so they blow up if they’re stepped on? What?”

  “I’d be fine.”

  “And you still haven’t told me how you know that.”

  Jones sighed, not wanting to share all his secrets. He knew he’d have to in order to satisfy Recker’s curiosity, though.

  “Follow me,” Jones said.

  Neither Recker nor Haley had an idea about what Jones was doing. They followed him over to the side wall, where several bookshelves were. Jones went over to the one on the right and removed a book with a red cloth cover. He opened it to the back page, where there was some kind of electronic device on it. Recker and Haley both had confused looks on their faces, not having any clue what was happening.

  It appeared to be some kind of keypad. Jones typed in six digits. Then, just like in a movie, the bookshelf started moving, sliding over to their right, revealing a small hole in the wall. Recker and Haley stared at
the wall, hardly believing what they were seeing.

  “What the hell is that?” Recker asked.

  “A safety measure,” Jones answered.

  “Whose?”

  “Whoever might be here and needs it.”

  Recker put both hands on top of his head as he continued to stare at the wall.

  “Where does that go?” Haley asked.

  “Down to the laundromat,” Jones replied. “Well, not exactly. There’s another movable wall down there that will lead to the laundromat if desired.”

  “And if not desired?”

  “Then you could just live inside the wall for a few days if that’s what you want.”

  Jones’ friends still seemed stunned.

  “Sooo it’s like… a secret hideout or something?” Recker asked.

  “I guess you could say that,” Jones said. “Here, since the cat’s out of the bag, we might as well go check it out.”

  Jones led the pair through the hole, which was about half the size of a regular door. Once through it, there was another door. That also needed a code to enter. Jones entered the four digits, and the door opened, leading to steps. They walked down the fifteen steps, which weren’t much smaller than those someone might find in a regular residence.

  When they reached the bottom, Recker and Haley were still stunned, but impressed. It was about the size of a small home office. There was a desk, chair, and computer station, along with a couple of monitors. There was also a refrigerator, cabinet for food, and a small toilet.

  “All the comforts of home,” Jones said.

  “Yeah, the home I never knew existed,” Recker replied. “Exactly how long has this masterpiece been here?”

  “I had it built when I bought the place.”

  Recker raised an eyebrow. “You mean this thing has been here the whole time and we never knew it?”

  “That’s correct?”

  “So you’ve just had this little sanctuary here and you thought it’d be best to keep it to yourself?”

  Jones could see his friend was starting to get a little agitated. “No, it’s not quite like that.”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s like that. Were you ever going to tell us about this?”

  “I just did.”

  “Yeah, because of the situation we’re now in. It never occurred to you even once over the last couple of years to mention this? You could’ve said, ‘hey Mike, you know I built this secret compartment in the wall in case we ever need it,’ you know, in case we ever need it!”

  “I just didn’t think it’d be necessary to talk about it unless we were going to actively use it.”

  “So how do we get out of here in case we have to go this way?” Haley asked.

  “There’s a button on the wall there,” Jones answered, pointing to it. “It leads into an unoccupied office inside the laundromat.”

  “Can people in there hear us?”

  “No, the walls were built to keep the noise in.”

  “So can everything be done here that was done up there?” Recker asked.

  “No,” Jones said. “This is more just to monitor the area. We’d only be down here in an emergency, such as someone finding us. And if that’s the case, we only need to stay here long enough until it’s safe to exit. I didn’t build this to continue operations here.”

  “Whatever the case, I guess it’s good to have a fallback option,” Haley said.

  Recker nodded. “Yeah. Just would’ve been nice to be informed about it years ago.”

  Jones bowed his head slightly. “My apologies. Should we head back upstairs?”

  Jones led the team back up to the office. Once they were there, he grabbed the red book and put in the code again. The bookcase slid back over to its normal position.

  “Don’t you think if someone comes in and sees the bookcase moved and the hole in the wall, they’ll see what’s up?” Haley asked.

  Jones grinned. “That is why, if something happens, I take the book with me and close it so they’ll never know.”

  “The people who built it know,” Recker said. “You don’t think they wondered why they were building a secret compartment here?”

  “I’ve kept tabs on them over the years.”

  “And?”

  “One tragically passed away in a car accident a few years ago. Another moved his family up to Maine two years ago.”

  “Is that it?”

  “The other still does business in the area, and I’ve kept an eye on him. There have been no issues.”

  “That you know of,” Recker said.

  “There have been no issues.”

  “OK. Let’s put all that aside. What about all this stuff? Are we completely out of commission for a while?”

  “Until I get things up and running, yes.”

  Recker sighed, and looked away. The frustration was noticed by Jones.

  “Why? Is there something else that’s pressing? We don’t have anything else in the pipeline at the moment.”

  “Yes we do. Maxx Diago. We need to look into some things.”

  “Maxx Diago… wait, isn’t that the case you worked on today? Is it not wrapped up?”

  “It is not,” Recker answered.

  “Did he not show up?”

  “He did. We handled the situation.”

  “Then I don’t understand. What else is there to do?”

  “He claims his brother was put away by the lawyer, but was innocent.”

  “Don’t they all say that?” Jones asked, somewhat sarcastically.

  “Yeah, but I believed him.”

  “You believe his brother is innocent?”

  “I believe that Maxx thinks that.”

  “So what are we supposed to do?”

  “Find out whether it’s accurate. I told Maxx to write everything in an email and send it over to you.”

  “And I’m supposed to look into it?”

  “See if you can pick up something,” Recker said. “Facial rec, license plate, something on camera, anything that might corroborate the story.”

  “And if I do?”

  “Then we send it to the authorities. Anonymously, of course.”

  “Why are we doing this?” Jones asked.

  “A good deed. That’s why we’re in this, right? We saved two lives today. Maybe three.”

  “Three?”

  “Saved the lawyer from getting his head blown off. Saved Diago from throwing his life away and going to prison. And possibly his brother if he didn’t do what he’s accused of. That is why we’re in this, isn’t it? To save the innocent?”

  “Yes, yes, of course. It’s just… with this other thing going on, I don’t know how well I’ll be able to focus.”

  “I’m sure you can manage,” Recker said. “Besides, when you have everything up and running, let me know, and I’ll come help.”

  Jones sighed, looking around at the mess. “Something tells me it’s going to be a long night.”

  3

  Once Recker and Haley got the call, they came right back to the office. It’d been a full twenty-four hours since they were last there. They thought Jones would have things up and running sooner, if even only partially. Either the breach was worse than Jones thought it was, or he was being extra precautious. But on the flip side, at least Jones hadn’t sent out any SOS signals. Things hadn’t spiraled totally out of control yet.

  When they stepped back inside the office, it looked a little cleaner than it had the previous day. It wasn’t yet back to normal, but there was at least room to walk around without stepping on something.

  “So how are we looking?” Recker asked.

  Jones was on a computer typing, but stopped and lifted his head to look at his partners. Instead of saying anything, though, he puffed his cheeks out and sighed. That was a pretty clear indication that it wasn’t going as well as anyone hoped.

  “So you haven’t fixed it yet, I’m assuming?”

  “That would be a great assumption,” Jones replied.

  “I thought you said we were good and to come back?”

  “No, I said I had a portion of the system up.”

  Recker took his phone out and looked at his text messages. He flipped his phone around so Jones could see. It was a text message that Jones had sent him.

  “We’re good for now. Come back in.”

  “You literally said we were good,” Recker said.

  “I said for now. At that point, I thought we were good. I’ve had a few complications since then.”

  Recker tilted his head back and rolled his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling. Sensing his friend’s frustrations, Jones sought to reassure him that everything would be taken care of.