Page 21 of Fear of Flames
Today, the old shed was something completely different. There was no way the original builders could have conceived the changes in technology. Built in the early 1900s, the shed didn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing. It took Dennis about a year to finish the renovations. He did little to the exterior, other than blacking out the few high windows. Dennis gathered supplies a little here and a little there, not working to raise suspicion.
Dennis’s use of off-grid electricity was a combination of hydroelectric and wind integrated with a backup generator. The system kept the shed warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It also supplied the necessary power for his advanced computer setup. The plumbing was rudimental. Thankfully, the water table was accessible for a well. Sewage was less precise. In most cases, he was the only person who used the shed.
Dennis turned back toward his house. It was invisible in the unexpected blizzard. He’d taken the opportunity to step out while his houseguest was busy. A glance toward the ground alleviated his concern. The blowing wind and heavy snowfall quickly covered his tracks. If he hadn’t been to the shed hundreds of times, it would have been easy to become lost and disoriented.
The only person who would be looking for him was his unexpected guest—his daughter.
Michelle was Dennis’s pride and joy. He wished he could be the father that welcomed her with open arms. The feeling in his gut wouldn’t ease. He’d do anything to go back in time and get her back on the road before they became dangerous for travel.
That gnawing feeling began a few weeks ago.
Hannah Jensen, a six-year-old girl from Pennsylvania disappeared while on vacation with her family in New York City. Her parents sought help from law enforcement as well as the public. In no time, the missing girl was a trending story.
Denny’s agency focus had always centered on missing and exploited children. It was personal. The photograph the family released threatened his cold heart. Years of watching children disappear without a trace could do that to a person. Each time he believed he could stop it.
He spent hours out in his hidden computer shed, what Tracy would have called his Bat Cave. After years of working on the frontlines for the agency, now Dennis did as his wife had taught him. He followed trails across the hidden corridors of the web. He’d spent years trying to infiltrate different networks that treated human beings as commodities. The monsters had no respect for human life.
Over the years, Denny learned the networks ran deep, involving men and women in all economic brackets and social levels. The wealthy used lowlifes to do their dirty work. Getting the lowlifes was only one goal. Denny wanted to shut it all down. To do that he needed the men and women at the top of the food chain. Sadly, those were the people who were becoming brazen, as if daring anyone to make an accusation or raise suspicion. Not too long ago, he happened upon another name, one that sent chills down his spine.
Congressman Patrick Lehman. Representative to Massachusetts. There was communication that shouldn’t have been found. Dennis found it. As soon as he made the connection, alarm bells began to ring.
Literal alarms that indicated his heavily layered server was detected.
Detected by the trafficking network or by the congressman, it didn’t matter.
Denny ran a counter program that found and deleted the virus in record time. No more than a minute had passed. However, with his work in cyber security both for IMPD and the agency, Denny knew, with a sinking feeling, that in the world of gigabytes, a minute was an eternity.
He’d had a choice to make. Tell the agency about the mishap or not. There was no telling what the person who planted the virus might have on the agency.
Denny made the call. The fact he was still alive and working for the agency meant the agency wasn’t as alarmed as Denny had been. Nevertheless, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d turned up the heat on himself.
The last thing he wanted was to put Michelle in harm’s way.
His thoughts went to Tracy, his wife of over thirty years.
Michelle didn’t have the training that he and Tracy had. Throughout Michelle’s childhood, they worked diligently to keep her separate from their secret lives.
Her surprise visit was welcomed. Mother Nature’s unrelenting snowfall was not. That was why Dennis called this meeting. He wasn’t certain what or if anything would happen, but he’d been with the agency too long to ignore the feeling.
The small shed came into view.
Dennis saw a snowmobile wedged on the side of the shed, away from the drifting snow. The tracks were mostly covered. He took a deep breath, knowing the man waiting inside was part of an elite team within the agency. That didn’t mean that Dennis enjoyed working with others. When given the chance, he preferred to do his job, report his findings, and keep to himself.
Sometimes the only person a man could trust was himself.
The thermal sensor hidden behind a weathered No Trespassing sign turned green, allowing Dennis to open the door. The inside of the shed buzzed with the energy coming from the technology. The man in the far corner turned. His dark eyes scanned Dennis. While he stood over six inches taller than Dennis, Dennis wasn’t intimidated. “Arrow.”
Chapter
Ten
Present day
* * *
Outside Shelly Holdcraft’s home, Fletch clenched his jaw, placing mounting pressure on his molars as he cut the lights on the truck. Sitting as still as a statue, he watched Michelle make her way up the driveway. If he hadn’t been assured by Colton that her house was safe, there would have been no way he could have let her leave like she was doing. It was selfish what he’d done.
Making his presence known to Michelle.
