Page 46 of The Rough Ride

Her heart sank. “What about the other profiles?”

“They all have posts about flowers. Even your nerdy Herman guy received a message about planting a flower garden next spring. The crew upstairs has been following the posts since last evening.”

“Why haven’t they removed the profiles yet?”

“Because upstairs moved your work to a separate server. We want to encourage this person or organization. Reply to a few messages. See if we can start a dialogue, figure out who’s doing the hacking. And I know you’ve assigned different personalities, nuances, and mannerisms to each of your personas to make them appear realistic and genuine. Of everyone who works here, you’ve had the most onlinehunting success. It’s due, in part, to the depth of the personalities you invent.”

Liz nodded. “Do you want me to make a list for each persona?”

“No. On the rare occasions when we’ve lost an analyst to tragedy or illness, we can document that information ourselves, even though it takes time and resources to mimic perfectly. I brought you in today because you’re up to speed with each account. We’ll give you keystrokes to enter in a strict sequence. You’re simply the front to lure them into a conversation. You’ll have sixty words maximum to coordinate our sequence with your persona’s nuances and reply.”

Wow. Four years had passed since she’d worked on a project like this. It’d been like combat-crawling through her brain for the right word and puzzle piece.

“I need an assistant, Major.”

The major raised her right hand. “That’s me.”

“It’d save me gobs of time if you manned the dictionary and thesaurus on the other laptop. It’s not fun, kind of like playingWheel of Fortunewith a gun to your head.”

“No pressure, huh?”

Liz smirked. “You’re the one who signed up to be all that you can be when you put on the uniform.”

The major chuckled. “Ain’t that the freaking truth?”

“What’s our time limit?”

“Each new sequence has its own time allotment, anywhere from thirty to ninety seconds. We’ll find out when we open the sequence.”

“And the purpose behind this exercise, Major? Give me a reason to be doing this, besides the fact I want to keep my job.”

“Dark web covert division has hidden code and worms inall the sequences. They can’t trace the perp’s entity because their signal bounces all over the globe and from satellite to satellite. So, they’re trying to find out who and how proficient our hacker is. In other words, are we dealing with a gifted kid hiding out in their basement, or do we have a major organization or a foreign government on our hands? Our sequences are like slapping an ankle monitor on them. Every time they answer us is another opportunity to find them.”

“You’re hoping the hacker makes a mistake.” Liz rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles.

“An inexperienced one will, for sure. Those people upstairs are smart and sneaky as hell. They know exactly how to corner and trap these bastards.”

The air conditioning whirled on and gusted a cold draft over Liz’s bare arms. She slid into the sweater she kept on the back of her chair. Espionage had never been her specialty. But, as daunting as this assignment looked, she was well acquainted with working on a team.

It was time to get to work.

28

Nick pulled up in front of Liz’s house and parked. It sure was a friendly looking neighborhood. Flagstone ranchers lined the streets, each with a striking front garden, and different color front doors with matching shutters. Liz’s yard distinguished itself with mounds of multi-colored impatiens and a pink crepe myrtle in full bloom. Judging by the combination of older folks and young children he’d seen on the neighborhood playground, it was a happy mix of every ethnicity and age. It looked like a comfortable place to live.

Liz should be home from work any minute now. Granted, her car wasn’t in the driveway, but maybe she’d parked in the garage. There was a lot of commotion down the block. Two police cars and an ambulance. He narrowed his eyes at the scene before striding to the Nelson front door and ringing the bell.

No answer. He rang the bell again. Maybe she was changing out of her work clothes.

Still no answer. He banged the knocker a few times, walked to the garage and peered inside. The only car in therebelonged to Liz’s mom. He’d just hang in the truck until Liz got home.

As he unlocked his car, someone called his name. Arlene hurried toward him with Ella in the stroller.

“Hey Nick, I’m so glad Liz got a hold of you. Happy Labor Day.” She gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. “Follow me.” She fumbled with the house key on her lanyard and unlocked the door. “Come on in.”

“It’s nice to see you, Arlene. Been what, a couple years? Your new digs are nice.” He carried the stroller up the few stairs and set it down in the living room.

Arlene scooped Ella into her arms. “Thanks. I like it. Large enough for company but not overwhelming like the big place we had when Liz was growing up. Plus, with Hank gone, I needed to move near my friends.”

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