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  After being dismissed, Cooper went over to Gordy who was being drilled by two more agents. Cooper patted him on the back and handed him the comlink headset. Gordy gave him a weak smile. Cooper’s guilt made his stomach hurt. He had involved his friend in a horrific disaster and had no doubt his investigation sparked the events leading to Audrey’s murder. Someone had to have followed him. He now had no doubt he was being watched.

  Walking back to the terminal, Cooper resolved to find out the reason for all the death and deception. Phisner was right. Something had happened to his fiancée. And someone wanted to stop him from figuring out what by intimidating him.

  To remove the nightmarish image from his head, Cooper focused on what he could do. His instincts told him he needed to stick around. He shouldn’t leave the travelport empty-handed. Audrey died for a reason. His feet led him back in the direction of the locker room. Worried that agents might have already searched her locker or would soon, he sped up his pace.

  At the end of Concourse A, a group of travelport workers was gossiping about the incident by an elevator. He went over and pushed the up button. The employees all had their opinions, and a few proposed motives. Apparently, Audrey was not a popular person, a good manager, but not a good buddy to slackers.

  When Cooper had heard enough, he casually brushed by one of them and lifted his badge.

  “I’ll just take the escalator,” he stated to no one and walked toward the terminal.

  Hiding in a cubby of vending machines, Cooper watched the locker room door as staff squeezed by each other going in and out. It looked like a shift change. While he waited, he clipped on the badge he had taken and hid the picture with his collar. When the majority had cleared out, he stepped in and went over to the restrooms. Hiding in a stall, he waited for everyone to leave.

  After the lights went out, Cooper stayed still for an extra minute to be safe. When he left the stall, triggering the lights back on, he walked over to the rows of lockers with benches in between them. There sure were a lot of them. He sneered at them. How was he supposed to figure out which one was hers? He didn’t have time to break into every one; the agents would be there soon. Shaking his head, he started searching the back row, hoping for a clue.

  After getting halfway through and finding nothing, he grimaced again at this roadblock. With the lockers unlabeled and nothing left out, he felt discouraged and ready to give up. Then, his stubbornness took over. There had to be something! A few more rows and he noticed one locker door not completely flush with the rest. He jiggled it and it opened.

  Inside, Cooper went through the purse and found a keychain with a scrollwork letter A. It had to be Audrey’s. Maybe he’d found some luck. He went through the rest of the contents of the locker, felt inside her shoes, and then checked her purse again. Nothing. He heaved a sigh. Come on, Audrey. Tell me you left me something!

  In the Security office, Joel adjusted and readjusted his glasses every five seconds as he finished giving his account of what happened to an agent. His stomach gurgled, and he twisted his face. He hated lying. Even just omitting the truth brought on his acid reflux.

  As he turned toward his station, he caught a glimpse of Cooper searching a locker on one of his monitors. With his eyes wide, he motioned for Trey, at the next desk, to switch the screen before an agent noticed Cooper snooping.

  When Joel reached his desk, he leaned over and told Trey to get Cooper out of there. No sooner did Trey get permission from the Feds to be excused than Joel noticed a pair of agents in the Concourse A camera walking up the hall toward the locker room. The agents he just spoke with must have informed their colleagues about Audrey going to her locker before the incident. They would be at the locker room in a few minutes. Joel hoped Trey would be able to intercept the agents in the hall before they found Cooper.

  Cooper knew he pushed his luck staying in there so long, but he wasn’t ready to give up yet. He grunted at the locker and punched it in frustration. He was so close and didn’t want to go away with nothing, especially since Audrey had died trying to help. The least he could do was risk getting caught to find whatever might still be there before the FBI did.

  He felt along all the inner parts of the locker. The sides, the top, the lips of the door, and finally, he found something. Underneath the upper shelf, he felt a metal box stuck to it. Inside were two stick drives.

  Cooper’s ears twitched at the squeak of the door. Someone had come in. Cooper took the drives and dropped the little metal box into Audrey’s purse. He quickly reassembled the rest of the contents and shut the locker. When he finished, he stood and listened. Nothing.

  Knowing someone stalked him there, hiding and watching, Cooper stretched his arms up and reached down behind his head to scratch the base of his neck. He released the tiny cylindrical drives into the back of his tucked shirt.

  Turning to leave, he heard the door open again. This time there were footsteps and voices.

  Greeting them as if he belonged there, Cooper met the two agents and two security guards who had come in together.

  “Hey, guys.”

  “Didn’t we talk to you at the crime scene?” one of the agents asked.

  “Hey, Cooper,” a Security guard cut in before Cooper could answer.

  “Hey, Trey,” Cooper said, seeing the guy’s name on his badge. “I found this outside the door and thought the owner might be in here.” He held out the badge he had pilfered. “I guess not. The place was empty. I’ll let you take care of it, Trey.” Cooper handed him the badge.

  “Thanks.” Trey took it and looked it over. “Nolan won’t get far without it. I’ll make sure he gets it.”

  “Well, it’s getting late. I guess I’d better get going,” Cooper said. “Tell Gordy I’ll call him. Can’t believe what happened. I’m so sorry for your loss. Terrible tragedy. Hope you find out what caused it.”

  “Yeah. I can’t believe it either. She was a great boss. See ya, Cooper.” Trey frowned and looked at the floor. The agents nodded and had Trey take them to Audrey’s locker.

  Cooper didn’t stick around. He took the escalator up to the Atrium. Glancing back, he couldn’t shake the nagging presence of a tag-along. His peripheral vision confirmed it. A few yards behind him, a travelport employee kept pace with him. Cooper took a few random turns. The guy passed by but never left his range. This could be the same guy who took care of Audrey.

  When Cooper reached the exit, he got into a microcab. As it pulled away, he turned back and no cars followed, no sign of his tail.

  “Where to?” the driver asked.

  “Downtown. A decent hotel. How about the Embassy Suites?” Cooper said as he sank into the seat, relieved to leave the travelport and death and spies behind him.

  Cooper closed his eyes. What have I gotten myself into? He had instigated a murder! Checking the rear window, Cooper felt confident no cars were following him. Seeing the cab cam in the ceiling, he realized they didn’t need to.

  He reached behind his back and felt the cool metal of the tiny rods at the waist of his shirt. What could be on the drives worth killing for? Once he had a chance to sit and digest everything, he could figure out what to do next. He laid his head back and tried to get a grip on everything that had just happened.

  After sending Blake home for the evening, Nate watched Mr. Cooper rest in the cab. When the tired detective got to the hotel, Nate switched over to the lobby cameras. As Mr. Cooper waited to check in, he rubbed his back like an old man. The poor guy looked beat. Obviously, the excitement and gore had taken a lot out of the small-town detective. Mr. Cooper probably moved to Walnut Grove to get away from the big, scary city and would be running back home by lunch tomorrow. Nate laughed as the camera followed him into the lounge.

  “He already needs a drink,” Nate said. “Once a drunk…”

  Seeing the small cameras all over the lobby reminded Cooper of the constant surveillance. He had to get used to the feeling of being watched. Audrey’s death proved someone had been payi
ng attention to his business. If he had been suspicious of it before, he would have been more careful and she might still be alive. He had to assume whoever watched him had access to any webcam video feeds they wanted. There really was no place to hide. Thinking about the possible depths of deception made his head hurt. He craved his own bed in Walnut Grove, but he would have to settle for the comforts of a hotel room.

  After checking in at a kiosk, Cooper headed straight for the bar, but just for food. His stomach demanded nourishment. Confusion and questions concerning the recent events crowded his brain, but hunger distracted him. For now, he needed to put disturbing thoughts aside. He had to sit and eat.

  The old hotel’s once bright and tropical lounge, open to the floors above, had become faded and dismal. A few other patrons sat at the tables, enjoying the somber music and tranquil atmosphere. Cooper expected a bigger crowd for happy hour. It suited him just fine to have the bar all to himself.

  After ordering his meal, he went to the restroom. Retrieving the stick drives from his shirt, he slipped one into a link of his silver QV wristband for safekeeping and the other into his pocket, separating them. Just in case he got into trouble, he could offer up one of the drives and not lose them both. He felt like a covert operative.

  When he returned to the bar, he left Miki a message, letting her know he would be staying in Atlanta for one or two nights and would check in with her the next day.

  As he finished his burger, the news came on the old plasma TV hanging over the bar.

  “You done with that?” the bartender asked.

  “Sure. I’ll take another Diet Coke, if you don’t mind,” he added and pointed at his glass.

  “No problem.” The bartender refilled it. “How long you been clean?” he asked.

  “Two years, four months, five days. How’d you know?”

  “Eight years, five months, twenty days. You’re sitting alone at a bar and you’re not drinking. Lucky guess.” He wiped off his hand and offered it to Cooper, who shook it.

  “So you schlepping it isn’t a temptation?” he asked.

  “Working here actually helps. You should see some of the assholes who come through. Especially with the nudie bars around here.”

  “Ah. I bet.” Cooper nodded. On the TV, he caught the last bit of the top story covering the death at the travelport. “Could you turn that up?”

  “Sure.” The bartender adjusted the volume. It sounded like they were ruling it an accident and moving on. Nothing to see here. Audrey deserved better than that. But they rolled right into the next story, about a local accountant who had wrapped his car around a tree somewhere outside the city limits. When they announced Jonathan Phisner’s name, Cooper had to steady himself, grabbing the bar to keep from falling off his stool. Phisner? What the hell! Cooper hoped the bartender hadn’t noticed his reaction.

  The anchorwoman said the police were gathering evidence to determine if it might have been a suicide or a case of drunk driving. Either way, alcohol was involved. They rehashed Phisner’s tragic story, insinuating he had been carrying around plenty of guilt about the unproven murder of his fiancée, Aleesa Kingston. Now they would never know.

  Poor Phisner had been right all along. Cooper swallowed hard.

  Though Cooper kept a straight face, the bartender could tell something bothered him.

  “Did you know that guy?” he asked.

  “Sort of. I think he worked at the firm that does my taxes.” Cooper shrugged. That sounded good.

  “Too bad. One more reason to stay clean,” the bartender commented.

  “Amen,” Cooper agreed. Though he felt like having a double.

  Embassy Suites, Atlanta

  8:30 a.m., Thursday, July 25

  Cooper opened his eyes and stared at a stain on the ceiling. Reaching his hands to his face, he tried to rub the scowl off it. His head ached like a hangover, though he had had nothing to drink the night before. The images of Audrey had regurgitated in his dreams, along with the newscast of Jonathan Phisner’s car crash, which left him thrashing around all night. Two people dead because of him. He scratched the back of his head. How would he get out of this? The situation was lose-lose. Whether he did anything or not, there were sure to be more “accidents.” And having information someone desperately wanted put him at the top of the list. Hopefully they didn’t know he had anything.

  Sitting up, Cooper squinted at the tiny stick drive next to his QV on the dresser under the massive, first generation compucenter screen. Thinking about what might be on the little buggers made him groan. It couldn’t be good, and apparently, it was worth killing for. He’d have to decide what to do with them soon, before he went missing. He brainstormed possibilities.

  Scenario One, he could toss them. Or better yet, destroy them. But that might help the people watching him. In his lawyer days, he had always represented the little guy. Phisner had re-sparked that protective instinct. He couldn’t let Audrey’s and Phisner’s deaths be in vain. He had to do something.

  So he went to Scenario Two. He could turn the drives in to the authorities. But if the people watching him had power over them, the watchers could easily confiscate the drives. He couldn’t take that chance. It would defeat the purpose of Audrey sacrificing her life to hide them in the first place. She knew something. Something worth risking her life for.

  Scenario Three, he would have to check out the drives. He ran out of other possible scenarios because what he did next depended on what he saw on them that Audrey had been protecting. As his grandfather used to say, “If you want something done right, don’t screw up.”

  He needed all the facts.

  His shoulders dropped. Anxious about what secrets the drives held, he needed a secure way to view them. He couldn’t risk looking at them on the compucenter in his room. Hotels were highly connected. All these problems kept tossing him from one patch of turbulence into another.

  Putting his feet on the floor, he leaned over and clasped his hands on the back of his head to keep it from exploding. A way to view them. Not on his QV, not on any CC or public imager. While he wracked his brain, questions invaded his thoughts. Why did Audrey keep the backups? And why did she and Jonathan have to die? What was so important? And who was behind it? He also had a bad feeling that all this connected with what happened to the missing people over the past two years. Just like Phisner said.

  Along with most Joe Citizens, Cooper ignored the news reports, since they didn’t affect him personally. Now he was forced to acknowledge them. And he kept ending up in the same place. The people weren’t missing; they were gone. It has to be a cover-up. But who would let such a thing go on? Who is responsible? If a government intelligence agency is involved, why are they involved? The deeper he dug, the more his stomach twisted and his head pounded.

  Cooper should never have met with Phisner in the first place. Then he would be happily ignorant, like the rest of the world.

  Shaking his head, he got up to shower.

  He closed his eyes and let the water pelt him. What is on those drives? The steam relaxed his brain enough to think of a way to view them. He would have to get his hands on a basic, unlinked imager. Even then, he would have to be careful where he chose to view them, with the damn web cameras everywhere. If he kept going into restrooms, he would arouse suspicion just for that.

  Cooper threw on the same clothes as the day before. Not a first, but at least he had gotten to shower, this time. Stashing the loose drive in a pocket of his jeans, he felt better having the other hidden in his QV; in case someone caught and searched him; the culprit might find the easy one and stop there, missing the hidden one. Being paranoid made a guy more careful. He removed his jacket from the web cam on the compucenter and left.

  After checking out, he took a microcab to E-Needs. Stepping out of the store with his purchase, he looked around at the oblivious pedestrians and took a deep breath of fresh air as if it might be his last. He wanted to remember the calm before the storm. These people had no ide
a everything was about to change.

  To view the contents of drives, he chose the open fields of Piedmont Park, close by and hopefully clear of prying cameras.

  The pleasant, summer day made the short trip to the park an easy walk. But the sparkling sun and cloudless sky meant a satellite could easily focus on him. Glancing over his shoulder once in a while on the short trek, he kept an eye out for suspicious characters. He didn’t sense anyone following him, he just couldn’t help being overly cautious and again empathized with Phisner.

  When Cooper reached the park, he turned down a tree-covered path. A jogger or two would pass every so often and smile awkwardly at him. Out of place in his disheveled work clothes and unshaven face, he must have looked like a homeless guy. Whatever.

  As he walked, he noticed the cameras mounted intermittently in the trees along the path, to discourage muggings and other ill behavior. Some cameras were good.

  Seeking complete privacy, he left the path and waded into the freshly cut grass of the large clearing. There were more people enjoying the park this morning than he expected. Dogs fetching Frisbees, mothers pushing strollers, and what looked like a small fair setting up. He let out a heavy sigh and stopped. Time to see what all the insanity was about. Grabbing the drive from his pocket, he put it in the viewer and played it.

  After getting some rest, while a night shift tech watched Cooper sleep, Nate checked back in early. No movement. According to Cooper’s QV blip and the hotel cameras, he never left his room. He had covered the computer’s eye so the rookie just watched a black frame all night.

  Cooper was a smart guy. And he was becoming a big pain in the ass. If he didn’t have his high relations, he’d probably be dead already.

  By the time Cooper removed his coat from the webcam, Nate had refreshed the tracking map, the satellite link frame, and the video feeds from the areas surrounding the hotel. He was ready for action.