Fatal Transaction (Thriller & Suspense, Cyber Crime) (14 page)

The story really touched her. She could see he still hurt over this. He hadn’t learned to turn his emotions off, to dig a deep hole and bury the pain.

“He sounds like a good man.”

“Yeah, he was a hero.” Under his breath, he added, “Not like my stepfather.”

After this, they both worked in silence.

Finally, Derry looked at his watch. “Oh, we’d better be going.”

Sara glanced at the microwave.

6:03.

“Just one minute. I want to start the hard drive formatting, so it can work while we’re gone.”

Derry waited as Sara typed in a few commands. Three minutes later, they headed out the door.

Chapter 29

S
ara slept in later than she expected. It was approaching noon when she dragged herself out of bed.

“Morning, sleepy head.” Derry was moving about in the kitchen.

“Muuuh.” She wasn’t a morning person, never had been.

A bag of muffins sat on the table close to Derry’s laptop. “Those look good.” Sara reached for them. “Can I have one?”

“I bought them to share. Want some juice to go with it?”

He was so
perky
. What was wrong with him?

“Coffee?”

“Sure.”

Derry turned toward the coffeemaker as Sara plopped down in front of her computer. The operating system was installed, and the computer was waiting for her to answer a few dozen questions.

She picked at the muffin as she worked her way through the final steps. The coffee helped. Derry sat at the other end of the table working on his computer. He couldn’t view her monitor from where he sat. Once the setup was complete, she logged into the offsite backup location where she’d stored all her programs.

She started the download as she nibbled some more on her muffin. Derry grumbled about his lost data.

“You should’ve backed it up.” She finished her first cup of coffee and rose to get a second.

“Yeah, I know. I hear that all the time.”

“Well, maybe you should have listened. You know, it’s easy to do.”

Derry raised his eyebrows as he watched her moving back to her seat. “For you, maybe.”

He seemed so likeable. Was he really like this, or was it just an act? Sara scanned the download’s progress. Derry’s Internet connection was slow. It would take some time to complete. Getting up again, she went around to his side of the table and pulled a chair up next to his.

“You going to set up my computer for me?” He had a little kid smile. Cute.

“No, but I’ll walk you through the process.”

“Hmm, I guess that means I have to do the work.”

“No duh.”

She enjoyed sitting near him. It felt natural, and a little weird at the same time. Forty-five minutes later, his setup was complete. She could have done it faster, but she didn’t mind showing him the different options and explaining why he should choose one over the others. He was a quick study.

She moved back to her side of the table. Her downloads were complete. In a few more minutes, she’d be able to check her email and move about the Internet without being tracked by Kai or anyone else.

But first things first. Did Levy really find her money? All of it? Could she pay Derry his money? She had three different accounts. She checked her local bank first. This was the one Kai and Levy were most likely to find.

Empty, not surprising.

Well, that was the smallest account. Did Levy find his money? Did he stop the transfers from last weekend? Not as likely. This account was harder to find and was under her new name, Ramos.

Sara logged into her offshore account.

Sitting back, she knew she still had him. The account was untouched, lots of money. If he hadn’t found that one, he probably didn’t know about her third account, either. This one was also under Ramos. It had money from her past, before she started working for Levy. Checking it, she found it still had several thousand dollars in it.

Good. No, great!

“What’s so funny?”

Sara glanced at Derry. “What?”

“You had a big smile on your face.”

Oops.
“Oh, just something I read. If you have your bank info handy, I can transfer the money now.”

Derry rose, and retrieved a checkbook from one of the kitchen drawers. Approaching Sara, he held it out. “This should have the information you need.”

Sara took it, and Derry stood behind her.

“Ramos?”

At first, Sara didn’t catch him saying her new last name. It sounded a little odd. He must have read it off her screen.

“Yes.” Her hands held a stationary position over the keyboard.

“That’s your last name?” The tone carried an accusation.

“What’d you think my name was?” She worked not to appear defensive.

“Oh, I thought I heard something different at Jasper’s. Something that started with a B.”

She could feel him behind her now. What was enjoyable a minute ago was suddenly oppressive. “Maybe.”

“So, you have two last names? Were you married or something?”

Is that what he’s concerned about, whether I’m single or not?
“I have to use a false name when running tests for two reasons. One, so the card companies know the transactions are tests and the charges can be trapped. Two, in case the charges aren’t trapped, I can’t have it hurting my credit rating.”

Oh, I’m good
.

“Hmm, makes sense.”

After the transfer, Derry headed out to the shack he kept calling a guesthouse. That gave Sara the freedom to take care of some of her own business. First thing she needed was a new credit card; she had lost everything when she dumped her pack in Estes. She could live without a driver’s license, since she had her passport waiting for her. Sara logged into her credit card account, canceled her old card, ordered a new one, and had it sent to her PO box in Estes Park.

Chapter 30

“G
et Kai in here.” Levy stood in front of his office window, glaring at Ted.

“I’ll see if she’s in.” Mike reached for his phone.

“She’d better be in, or that girlfriend of yours will be the next one in the chair.”

Mike made no response to Levy’s threat. “Kai, it’s Mike. Mr. Levy needs to see you ASAP.”

Ted shifted uneasily under Levy’s stare.

Levy continued, “Your story better check out, or I’ll shut down your store so fast you won’t have time to pack your pens.” He didn’t like Ted, but like all of the people who worked for Levy, he had his uses.

“She’s on her way.” Mike slid his phone into his pocket.

Mike was incompetent. How could one half-dead woman escape his grasp for so long? They had one task, one simple task. Find Sara. While they were looking for her, she was stealing Levy’s money.

Worthless, all of them were worthless. And Ted’s story did nothing but aggravate the situation. “You said this man was in your store on Friday afternoon?”

“Yes, sir.” Ted had lost his cocky smile.

“But you waited until Monday to inform me?”

“I have a store to run. The weekends are my busiest time. I tried calling, but never got through. And I didn’t know you wanted Sara until today.”

He was making poor excuses.

The door opened, and Kai rushed in.

“What took you so long?”

“I was in the shower. I got here as fast as I could.” Her long black hair dripped on Levy’s new rug.

“Why weren’t you at your desk?” He didn’t care that she’d been there for eighteen hours a day since Sara had escaped. Without waiting for an answer, he shifted his annoyance back to Ted. “Show it to her.”

Ted handed Kai a slip of paper.

She read it, then raised her gaze to meet Levy’s. “It’s a list of parts for my computer system.” She sounded confused.

“And Sara’s?”

“Hers, too. They’re identical.”

“Are your systems uncommon?” Levy calmed his voice, but not the exasperation that built within.

“I don’t know. Sara’s the one who designed the system. She was very specific about the setup.”

So Ted might be onto something. It was the first break in over a week. Levy’s anger subsided a fraction. He turned back to Ted. “Who is he?”

Ted nervously shuffled his feet. “I don’t know. I couldn’t get his name.”

Levy threw his pen at Ted. “Then what good is your information?” His voice boomed. “You’re just as incompetent as everyone else working for me. Get out.” Levy spun toward his desk. Of all the useless excuses to take up his time.

“I have a picture of him.”

Levy hesitated for a fraction of a second before proceeding the rest of the way around his desk. “Let’s see it.”

Ted reached into his pocket and pulled out a jump drive. “It’s on here. It’s from the store’s surveillance cameras.”

Mike stepped forward and snatched the jump drive. As Mike stuck it into Levy’s computer, Kai and Ted repositioned themselves, to see the monitor. In a few moments, all four were viewing the transaction that took place the previous Friday.

“Well?” Levy glanced at Mike.

“It looks like it could be the guy from Estes. But it’s such a poor picture, it’s hard to tell.” Mike continued staring at the monitor.

Levy wheeled toward Ted. “That will be all. Leave. Now.”

Ted backed toward the door, but hesitated. “I heard there’s a reward.”

“If you had his name or address, if Sara was there, maybe. But from the way he rushed out of the store, you must have tipped him off.”

“Hey, I didn’t say anything. I just—”

“Leave, before I have Mike throw you out my window.”

Mike moved toward Ted.

Levy turned back to the monitor as Ted fumbled over himself to get out the door.

“Run it again.”

As the video played a second time, Levy kept his eyes on the image. “Pull the best images you can off of here, and use them for a search through the DMV’s database. Find out who he is and where he lives.”

Kai glanced at Levy. “These pictures are very low resolution. I’m not sure if I can get—”

Levy wheeled around and bore down on her. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. I pulled you off computer security because you couldn’t do that right. If you can’t do this, I’ll have no reason to keep you alive. Am I clear?”

“I’ll get on it right away.”

Levy reached over and yanked out the jump drive. He handed it to Kai. “Send me a copy of the images you use.”

“Yes, sir.” Kai took the jump drive and moved toward the door.

“One more thing.”

She turned back. “Yes?”

“Where’s my money?”

“I’ve traced it to the second bank, but the accounts she used aren’t up any longer. They were short-term accounts, set up for channeling money. They disappeared, along with their records.”

He’d used this type of account before. Some banks in other countries made most of their profit doing this. The accounts were designed to make it impossible for governments to track money.

Kai remained where she was, awaiting further instructions.

Levy needed to protect the money he had left. If Sara had the security codes for his offshore account, she would also have them for the credit card scam account.

So why hadn’t she taken the money from that account?

She’s waiting for it to grow.

“I want a completely new routing set up for the credit card money. Sara set up the current program, and will know how to steal that money, too.”

Kai’s delay alerted Levy to the problem.

“What is it?”

“That part of the program is buried deep in the code, and affects code at the credit card companies themselves. It’s not something that can be changed on the fly. Our program has to embed changes in their automatic update files, and the changes don’t take effect until those updates are installed.”

“How long will it take?” He was losing patience with this whole thing. If there wasn’t so much money involved, he’d walk away from it. Once he found and killed Sara, of course.

“Once I set up the new accounts and paths, it will take one to two weeks for everything to filter through, depending on how fast the updates move through the card companies’ systems.”

“Get started on it.”

“What about the DMV search?”

“Is that going to suck up all your time?” It was a rhetorical question.

“No, sir.” She started toward the door again, head down.

“And set up a temporary account. Have the credit card money moved into it today, and every day, until the code is fixed.”

“Yes, sir.”

Chapter 31

“I
really appreciate this.” Derry leaned against the wall that divided the dining room from the kitchen. Sara was making dinner for him and Lamar.

It had been nearly two weeks since he rescued her. The bruises and cuts on her face were almost gone, but her hands still held a few marks.

He enjoyed her company most of the time, when she wasn’t lying to him. He still wondered who the men were that had beaten her, but he thought about that less each day.

“After risking your life for me, the least I could do is save the life of one of your friends.” Even from the side, he could see her smile.

“My cooking wouldn’t kill him.”

She peered over at him with a straight face, but her eyes held a twinkle. “You really believe that? Or is he really that tough?”

To change the subject, Derry asked, “Did you get your project done?”

She gave him an inquisitive stare.

“The credit card program?”

“Oh, yeah, uh. It’s going okay, I guess. Why?” Sara turned back to the stove, and dropped pasta into a pot of boiling water.

He wondered if any of what she had told him was true. He doubted it. “Oh, it’s just that you said there were penalties for being late.”

“I got a three-week extension. Now I just need a place to work where those men can’t find me. I can’t let them find the code.” She looked at him over her shoulder. It was a very sweet but controlling look, and Derry knew it.

“I told you, you can stay here as long as you want.”

Sara stirred the pasta as she used her other hand to taste the homemade sauce. “I can’t keep you out of your room forever. Sooner or later, I need a place of my own, but I don’t feel safe moving back to my apartment.”

What was her game now?

Derry was getting better at recognizing when she was trying to manipulate him. Until he knew what she was really up to, he let her continue to think he was clueless.

She glanced out the sliding glass door. “When will you be done with the guesthouse? Will it be ready to rent out soon?”

So, that was it. That was okay. Having her in the guesthouse would give him more opportunities to figure out what she was really up to. At least that was what he told himself.

“It should be ready in the next couple of weeks. Sooner, if I work harder on it.”

She turned her gaze on Derry. “How much are you planning to charge?”

“You sure you want to rent it? It’s pretty ugly on the outside.”

“I took a peek on the inside today, while you were at work. It’s not bad. It’s like an old book—a tattered worn cover with a great story inside.”

Derry tried not to smile, but he couldn’t stop himself. He gave her a figure that was lower than he knew it was worth.

“At that price, you must be expecting me to cook for you, too.”

“No, I—it’s a fair price.”

“So, you don’t want me to cook for you? You don’t like my cooking.”

“No, that’s not what I—you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Sara turned back to the stove. “Oh, yeah.”

***

As she was headed out to grab a bite to eat, Kai got the call to come to Levy’s office. She immediately changed directions, and headed back into the building. After another week of eighteen-hour days, she was feeling the stress.

“Did you identify the man who bought the computer from Ted?” Levy sat behind his desk, demanding answers as soon as she came through the door.

“I’ve found twenty-seven possible matches, but the program is still running.”

“Twenty-seven?” Levy rose to his feet.

“So far. I’m covering the whole state, any white male under thirty-five, with a Colorado license. When I left, the program was about eighty percent complete.”

Levy glanced at Mike. “Give him the list once it’s done. It’s about time he earned his pay. And what about the credit card routing? Is it fixed?”

Splitting her time between the two projects made her ineffective on both. “It’s close. I’ve set up all the necessary bank accounts, and can start coding tomorrow. Then I’ll need a day for testing. At that point, I’ll submit the updates to the credit card companies.”

“And then?” He wasn’t happy with the schedule, that was clear.

“One to two weeks at most,” she assured him.

***

Sara had a pleasant meal with Lamar and Derry. She learned about Derry’s past, and how the two men had become friends. Lamar acted more like a father to Derry than a friend. At the end of the meal, Sara started to excuse herself.

“So, how long have you known Derry?” Lamar was a very easy person to like.

“Not long. Why?”

Lamar looked at him, then back at her. “I just never heard Derry talk about you before. How’d you meet?”

Now he was starting to sound like a
cop
. Not so likeable.

Derry jumped in. “Some men were after her. I helped her out of a jam.”

“He’s being very modest. The men were trying to kill me. He saved my life.”

“That explains the marks. Do you know these men?”

“They were after my work.”

“Your work? What sort of work would make men want to kill you?”

Sara told the same lie to Lamar that she’d told to Derry. He asked her about reporting it to the police. She made excuses. She said it wouldn’t matter since she didn’t know them—and, after the beating, she couldn’t really remember how they looked. He tried to talk her into going to the police. She didn’t budge.

Lamar turned to Derry. “So, you’re letting her stay here to protect her from these men?”

“Just in case they know where she lives. I thought it would be safer.”

“You’re sure that’s the reason?” A smile formed at the corners of Lamar’s mouth.

“Yes. Why else do you think I’d let her stay?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Lamar smiled fully. “Maybe it’s because she’s very attractive.”

He had a jolly smile. It made Sara feel secure. She shifted her eyes toward Derry to see his reaction. He glanced at her without a word. Hard to read.

At that, Lamar rose from the table. “How about we take this conversation out back where it’s a little cooler?”

“I’m going to have to decline. Slaving over a hot stove all day has done me in.”

“Well, the food was excellent. Best this house has seen in years. You sure you can’t join us on the back porch? It’s not often I get the company of such a lovely young lady.” Lamar was charming.

Sara liked him, even if he was an FBI agent. Unlike those from her past life, he was kind, and treated her with respect. She understood why Derry liked him so much. Lamar had a strength about him.

“Maybe another time.”

The men cleared the table before heading out back. Sara waited for them to leave before going to her computer.

Bringing up her email, she found another message from Levy. She hesitated before opening it. With the protections she had on her computer, it was next to impossible for him to trace her. She clicked on the message.

Sara,

You sent your boyfriend out to buy you a new computer. Do you believe this will save you? Make you invisible? This is the mistake I’ve been waiting for. Next time one of my boys talks with him, he’ll give you up. Warming his bed only works until something more valuable replaces you. For the right amount of money, he’ll tell me everything I want to know.

What? How could Levy know about Derry? And why would he tell me about it, unless this is another one of his mind games. Would Derry really sell me out?

Sara controlled her rage better this time. She wouldn’t let Levy win—not now, not ever.

Okay, it’s time I tap into Levy’s computer, and find out what he really knows.

Sara brought up one of her programs that allowed her to tap into almost any computer without the user knowing. She checked the time. It was likely Levy was still in his office. Maybe his computer was still on. It only took a few minutes and she was in.

She initiated a program she had left on Levy’s computer. It downloaded to her computer any changes to his files over the last two weeks. The only problem was that, in order to stay hidden from the user, the program ran in the background, making it very slow.

How could Levy know about her new computer? What had Derry said to Ted?

Could Derry really be part of this? Could he be working with Levy, hoping to learn where the money was?

Her thoughts were running wild, and she knew it. Derry wouldn’t do something like that. Would he?

She paced while waiting for the program to finish. Glancing around the room, she spotted Derry’s laptop sitting on a table by the back door. The computer was closed. As she moved toward it, she could hear Derry and Lamar on the back porch.

“So, got any new exciting cases lately?”

“Oh yeah, and it’s a difficult one. It involves credit card accounts. Someone’s stealing numbers from all over town. It’s been happening here in Denver for a couple of weeks, and it just started up in New York a few days ago.”

Sara froze next to the window.

New York? Levy started it up in New York? That meant more money.
Good
.

Lamar leaned forward in his seat. “All we know for sure is that someone has come up with a way to steal directly from the credit card companies with no consistent pattern—different names, different stores, different card companies. Whoever’s making these fraudulent charges is good.”

“Forged cards?”

“No, we’ve seen those before. There are too many safeguards in place for those to be effective. The numbers, addresses, names, and zip codes must all be valid. Most people who steal card numbers only get away with some merchandise. But this group is after cash. It’s a very complex setup. Whoever is behind this is very smart. From what we’ve seen, they’re using random valid numbers from several banks for various amounts on each charge. But they’re doing it thousands of times a day.”

“How about tracking where the money’s going?”

“That’s the key, and we’re working on it. But the money goes through a maze of offshore temporary accounts, through countries unwilling to share their banking information with us.”

“Can’t you apply pressure on the governments of those countries?”

“That sounds easy, but in many cases these governments are receiving a kickback to keep us out. It can be very profitable for them.” Lamar turned away from Derry, and the two were quiet for a few seconds.

“Why are the card companies paying, if the charges are bogus?”

“They don’t know which ones are bogus. It changes every day.”

“Sounds rough.”

Lamar leaned back, and stared up in the sky. “Yeah, but don’t worry. Sooner or later, they’ll slip up, and when they do, I’m going to pounce on them with both feet. They’ll end up in jail for a long time.”

Sara glanced out and saw Derry staring at her. Forcing a smile, she waved and slid open the sliding glass door. “My computer’s tied up running a program. Mind if I use yours?”

His blank expression told her he was hiding something. It was only there for a second, but she caught it.

“No, that’s fine. Go ahead.” He smiled and waved his hand.

“Thanks.” Sara pulled her head back inside.

I will not go to jail for something I was forced to do.

Carrying the laptop back to the dining room, she knew this house was filled with deceit. Just like every other place she’d ever lived. Derry wouldn’t turn her in to the FBI. He was after more. He was after money. He was working with Levy.

Opening his laptop, Sara searched his files for any communication between him and Levy.

She found nothing. Maybe her imagination was playing tricks. She was more confused than ever.