Off the Grid (A Gerrit O'Rourke Novel) (30 page)

Like adjusting binoculars for a closer look, the computer image expanded as a single pole emerged. A floodlight could be seen attached to the very tip of the pole. Just below the light, strapped to the pole, surveillance cameras could be seen on either side.

Gerrit drew closer, smelling a hint of garlic. “Willy’s right, R. D. You need to brush.” Willy chuckled as Gerrit peered at the surveillance equipment near the lab. “Those cameras are giving them a 360 of the area around that pole. The next pole’s cameras must pick up any dead spots the first ones missed.”

“Do you want to see what they can see?” Willy smirked at him.

“You can get into their system?”

“Does a bear—”

“Skip the jokes, Willy. Can you get me a look inside?”

“Can a—?” Willy stopped midsentence when he saw Gerrit’s expression. “Sure thing, Mr. G.”

A few minutes later, Willy handed the laptop to Gerrit. “Here ya go. Search away. See the camera stations listed along the top? Just point and click. If you hover over the site number, a window will appear to show you what you will be looking at and the location of the camera.”

“Say I want to go to the plant manager’s office.”

Willy reached over and moved the mouse to a midpoint. “Looks like they’re divided between interior and exterior locations. The interior are placed in geographical order. Here, start at this point.”

Gerrit watched as the first web cam popped up on the screen. It was a hallway in which he could rotate the view as needed. He manipulated the controls until the lens rested on a door identified as leading to the office of
Security Management
.

“While I poke around on this screen, I have a job for you and Redneck.” Gerrit crawled back to where the two men sat. “Alena, take the driver’s seat. Start looking for a car rental agency. There should be one near the airport.”

He turned to the guys. “We need to pick up two chase cars to go with this van. Alena can stay here with me, and you two split up after renting the cars and go solo. Willy, you have the handhelds handy? Everybody pick one up and stay in contact.”

Alena slid over and started the engine.

Gerrit continued. “Now, while she’s looking for a rental place, Willy, you help search this plant for weaknesses we can exploit.”

They began scanning the entire structure, searching each office before continuing to the next. Gerrit turned to Willy. “How can you do this? I mean some people have a problem just getting online while they’re traveling. Here, you’re accessing the plant’s interior security.”

Willy gave him a sly smile. “I can get inside just about any security system while miles away.” He motioned to a portable server he’d stashed in back. “That is J & W Enterprises’ own special creation. A mobile server that only needs a power source and provides wireless access to any nearby network. Once we’re hooked up, I target any place anywhere in the world. Cool, huh?”

“Yeah. But how do you gain access to this plant, for example? Their system must be self-contained. No hard wires to the outside.”

“It’s the beauty of wireless, baby.” Willy seemed to jump around in place with enthusiasm. “Mr. J. and I figured out how to piggyback on any wireless connections, even though they’re only transmitted to on-site locations. With our
special
contacts, we can have a satellite listening station zero in on a specific location, amplify the wireless signals, and transmit those signals back to us. We scan them until we lock into their system network, feeding back whatever we want to see. Just like now.”

Gerrit smiled. “Amazing. And you can do this from any location in the world?”

“As long as we connect with the satellite as it is rotating above the target. Impossible if the satellite is on the other side of the globe. Then we need to shift to another eye-in-the-sky orbiting in direct range to the target.”

“And who are these sources?”

Willy shook his head. “You’re gonna have to ask Mr. J for those. He just gives me the coordinates to access when needed. He keeps all the contacts to himself in case one of us gets captured.”

“What if Mr.…Joe gets snatched?”

“Then we’re up a creek without a paddle.”

Gerrit turned back to the screen. He thought of Joe on his way to England. He realized the weakness in their network. If something happened to his uncle, he and the others would be left without any contacts. More important, they would not know who to trust. Joe only left him one name
. Beck Malloy
.

Gerrit focused on the target, trying to shake the thought from his mind.

A
white-coated lab rat kept sneaking glimpses of Collette as she moved around the room, a man who could only dream of getting close to a woman like her—under any circumstances. She smiled to herself as she eyed him in the glass of one of the blank screens.
Men are so weak.
She learned early to use their weaknesses to her advantage. It had served her well.

“Now, you’re sure there is no way outsiders can invade this room with surveillance equipment. I don’t want them to catch me visiting this plant and I need to monitor whether we have any electronic intrusions here.”

The lab rat looked at her, his face reddening. Her glare probably made the guy believe she could read his dirty thoughts. “I’m sure this is safe, miss…”

“I need you guys to be able to tell me if anyone—anyone—tries to invade our security system. Let me know immediately.”

Lab rat shook his head. “Yes, sir…uh, miss.”

Folding her arms, she studied the screens that recorded all movement inside and outside the building. Her cell phone vibrated. She picked it up, listening for a moment. “Good. Have them escort you here with your equipment. We’ll set up shop in this room. I’m told there’s no monitoring here and you’ll be shielded from any external surveillance. I want you to make sure.”

Shoving the phone back into her denim trousers, she watched Lab Rat eyeing her reflection. “Like what you see?”

The man hurriedly focused on the live screens in front of him.

A tap on the door prompted her to open it. “Come on in, guys.” She turned toward Lab Rat. “Okay, now that you got an eyeful, get out of here and let my team take over.”

The man’s face looked the color of a red tomato as he scurried from the room. Her team filed in and slammed the door shut.

“I think we got beat, guys.” Gerrit turned the screen so the others could see. “Can you rewind that last bit of surveillance tape?”

“Sure thing, Mr. G.” Willy’s nimble fingers danced across the keyboard, sending the figures on the screen moving backward as the tape rewound.

“There, stop it right there. Now, start the tape. When I give the word, freeze it.”

Willy nodded as he punched in codes. The computer screen picked up a signal beamed to them by a surveillance camera in the hallway just outside the plant’s security office. Several men carrying large bags worked their way down the hall toward the camera. One of the men tapped on the door with his knuckles. The door opened and a woman emerged.

“There. Freeze that.”

Willy complied.

“Great. Now, zoom in on her face.”

“Okay.” Willy zeroed in until her image took up the whole screen.

“That’s her! Kane used this woman in Vienna. She’s the one who visited my hotel room.” He saw Alena give him a hard look. “Hey, I thought you guys were watching.” He saw her eyes cloud. “I guess you weren’t watching that close. She left a few minutes after knocking on my door.”

Redneck drew closer. “Wow. She looks like she could give Al a run for her money. And you let her get away?” He gave Gerrit a wolfish look. “Yeah, right.”

Alena scowled, looking at Collette’s face. “So, she came to your room and you…what?” She turned her head toward him, waiting for his answer.

“I think Kane used her to set me up.” Gerrit pointed at Collette’s face, trying to steer the conversation back to their operation. “This confirms they know we’re here and that they heard the conversation I had with Summers before they killed him.”

Redneck gestured toward Gerrit. “So what? We go in, find out what we need to know, and get out. If they get in the way, I’ll take them out. Very simple, jarhead.”

Willy jerked. “Hey guys, we’ve got trouble.”

Gerrit looked his way. “Speak to me, Willy.”

“They sent out electronic probes, search signals to read whether someone has tried to enter their system through unusual channels.”

“You mean like through a satellite feed?”

Willy nodded. “Exactly. They’re more sophisticated than I gave them credit for. They might be almost as smart as Joe and I.”

“Almost?”

“Yeah, Mr. G. Almost. They can track my signals. They only know that I’ve somehow invaded their system. I see them searching, but they’re coming up empty.”

“Can they track it to where we are right now?”

Willy stared at him as if Gerrit had just suggested the Pope sanctioned sin. “Not in a million years.”

Gerrit looked at the screen. “This still is not good news. They suspect we’re coming and they’ll take every precaution to prevent us from getting inside.”

Alena shifted in her seat. “So what are we going to do?”

Leaning back, Gerrit looked at each person in the van. “We’re going to figure a way to get Alena and me inside. Let’s pack it up and find a motel.”

Alena shot him a look. “I thought we were using the safe house?”

“Change of plans,” Gerrit said. “Just want to switch it up in case anyone has tapped into our plans.”

Collette walked over to where one of her crew sat in the chair vacated by Lab Rat. She leaned on the man’s shoulder. A large laptop, bulkier than the ones most people carry around, sat on the counter in front of him, line tied into the plant’s network system.

“They’re gone, Collette. They pulled their probes back and cut the signal. They’ve vanished.”

She slapped the counter. “They are still in the area because they have not gotten what they came here to steal.”

The man nodded and turned back toward his computer.

Collette fumed
. Just show me your face once, Gerrit. That’s all I ask. Just give me one opportunity to kill you.

She pulled over a rolling chair and settled in. They had to come to her. And she would be waiting.

Harrogate, England

M
orning was only hours away, but he still hadn’t been able to sleep. Joe O’Rourke eased back on the soft pillows, his legs sprawled out on a four-poster, queen-size bed. The Harrogate bed-and-breakfast he’d found online lived up to its high customer ratings, and it was only a few blocks from the center of downtown.

The grueling commercial flight had been stalled for four hours in New York, and then his luggage had somehow been shipped to another airline. He’d kept his laptop and electronics in a carry-on or they might have been lost.

The lost luggage would never be reclaimed because he could not risk leaving a correct forwarding address where he might be contacted. Tomorrow morning he’d pick up a few essentials. Now, he just wanted to rid himself of this brain-numbing headache that had plagued him since he got off the plane.

He looked at his passport under the name of Frank Malone. Alena created it just before they abandoned the San Francisco office. No one should be able to track him here in England.

Sitting up on the bed, he opened the laptop, quickly accessing his e-mail account, also listed under an alias and an IP address rarely used. It was an electronic dead letter drop he and the others set up to keep in touch. One of many. When the e-mail program opened, he saw a new document sitting in the Draft file unopened. He clicked on it and saw Willy’s avatar on the page with no name.
Captain America
. He scanned down to the message.

Located site. Set up to watch. G wants you to know that C from the Vienna hotel is here with her people. Watching and waiting. G and his girlfriend are going to pay C a visit. They just need to figure out what kind of gift to bring to the party. Stay safe.