Page 81 of Wild Fever
I told her Edward had given her father a data drive with all the evidence. It was probably in Lance's office, or somewhere around his house. "You need to watch your back. I don't mean to frighten you, but it seems Elias is capable of murder. Pretty soon, he's going to find his back against the wall."
"Well, I've got a gun, and I'm not afraid to use it."
I gave her the usual advice about keeping an eye on her surroundings, not going out alone, and staying with large groups. I didn’t particularly think Elias would go after her at this point, but people do crazy things when desperate.
Paris finished her interview with Edward, then I drove him down to the station where he made a full statement. I caught the sheriff up to speed, and he contacted the FBI and the SEC. As far as the securities fraud went, it was their ballgame now. The SEC opened a formal investigation, but that could take months or even years to play out. In the meantime, I was determined to get the scumbag on murder charges.
Still, something seemed off. Elias didn’t strike me as the kind of guy with expert hacking skills. But you never know. From what Isabella had told me, the hack into the server at the cryo lab was basic and lacked good tradecraft. No hacker worth their salt would have attempted such a feat from their own IP address. Noplan ever survives the battlefield. Something always goes wrong. Something breaks. You need to anticipate the unthinkable. A VPN dropping the connection, exposing the user's real IP, was not unheard of with low end providers. Any number of things could cause it. An experienced hacker would have taken greater precautions. Then again, I didn't think Elias was that experienced. Perhaps his ego outweighed his ability. That ego was about to bite him in the ass.
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Daniels found me chatting up Denise at her desk. He had a stern look on his face. "There was an apparent break-in at the Zonatrex Pharmaceuticals lab last night. An experimental drug was stolen."
I played dumb. "Really? What kind of drug?"
"I'm not sure. Anticancer, I think."
"That's odd. I haven't heard anything about it on the news. Paris is usually on top of that kind of thing."
"That's sounding like a special crime if ever I heard one. You and that nitwit want to take it?"
I grimaced, feigning regret. "I'd love to, but I think we’ve got our hands full as it is.” Then I thought better of it. "Yeah, go ahead and give it to me. I'll sort it out.”
I wasn't too keen about walking back in there and interviewing Officer Haskins about the break-in. Fortunately, Jack had never stepped inside. He could handle the interview portion, and theinvestigation would go nowhere. It was for a good cause. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.
I said goodbye to Denise and headed back to theAvventurato check on Kara.
But by the time I got back, Jack had grilled up breakfast. He and Kara chowed down on the sky deck. She looked fabulous. It was a complete turnaround. Her skin was full of color, her eyes were no longer sunken and weary. She shoveled down bacon and eggs like there was no tomorrow. Fortunately for her, there would be a tomorrow, and many more after that.
"Well, look at you," I said, impressed.
"Back from the dead," she said with a smile.
"It's remarkable."
"And I owe it all to you guys.”
JD and I both feigned modesty.
“As long as I don’t develop side effects, I think I’m in the clear.”
“You’ll be fine. Power of positive thought.”
I filled them both in on the events of the morning. Jack wasn't surprised by the revelation. We had both figured Elias for a scumbag.
It was late afternoon when I got a call from Crenshaw. After I told them where to look, they were able to find evidence of the hack on the cryo-lab’s network originating from Elias’s IP address. With that, we were able to get a warrant. I put a tactical team together, and we stormed his office with shock and awe.
The receptionist’s eyes bugged out, and she spilled her coffee.
“Where’s Elias Thorne?” I demanded.
“In his office. Do you have an appointment?” she asked in a timid voice.
“Don’t need one,” I said with a grin.
We stormed down the hallway to his office and caught Elias on the phone. The tac team flooded in and surrounded his desk.
With twitchy barrels pointed at his face, his eyes bulged. In a surprisingly casual voice, he said, “I’m gonna have to call you back.” He hung up the phone and forced a smile. “What seems to be the trouble, gentlemen?”
