The Omega Team: Cyber Tracked: The Cobra Project (Kindle Worlds Novella) (IATO Series Book 4) (6 page)

Jason had just recently shared Mosel’s secret with Cade. It was no news to Cade, that Jason’s past rival for his wife’s affections wasn’t dead. That couldn’t be easy for his brother to swallow. Had the arms dealer, Mosel Reinhardt, been working both sides all along? Jason and Emily didn’t believe so.

London, UK

Rowan O’Malley picked up her mail and rushed out of her office, late for her appointment. One piece of mail caught her attention as she filed through it. The return address indicated the envelope was from a very well-known international corporation. But her name and address had been handwritten, and looked very unusual. She paused near a trashcan tossed away the junk mail and then curiosity won out. She opened the handwritten envelope.

A business check with a handwritten sticky note attached was all she found inside. No explanation. No invoice. The check was a generous donation made out to her Queen’s Island fund, her pet charity for the development of Northern Ireland technology. Young people in Belfast needed jobs and her objective was to build a future for the techies from the dark net. The dark net was a whole underworld where names, tracking, and conventional money meant nothing. The hackers needed jobs to keep busy and rehabilitation from criminal elements. Working in the dark net where nobody used real names freed up many who couldn’t work elsewhere. But there were still the dark underworld of criminals who preyed on the talented group of young people who could write almost anything when it came to code.

It was time to bring them into the light. She wanted to help develop their talents and put them to good use. And her organization was always looking for funding. She’d already developed the Queen’s Island charity fund for that purpose.

She was used to receiving donations anonymously, but this was unusual. The handwritten, personally signed check had a sticky note attached that read, "Please accept this. It’s my turn to give back." The message tugged at her heart. She knew the feeling. But the fact that the check came in an envelope with a heading from one of the largest corporations in Europe made her think twice. She was getting ready to look and see who signed it, and then she realized it was probably the treasurer of the corporation. So that really wouldn’t tell her anything except someone in the corporation was capable of authorizing a check for 2.5 million and wasn’t answerable for it. She shoved the check in her briefcase.

Later.

* * * * *

Rowan tapped her key fob and after nothing happened, she tapped it again. Still nothing happened. At first preoccupied, she thought maybe she was too far away from the car, so she approached until a tingling warning sensation crawled up her spine. Suddenly that funny feeling overwhelmed her.

Stupid! Stupid!

How could she be so stupid? She didn’t waste time backing off. She ran putting enough distance between herself and the vehicle to make her comfortable.

No one with her background and a price on her head would approach the vehicle under these circumstances. Perhaps it was a bomb with a shorted out connection, or a loose wire. Better to back off and call someone in who could diffuse the damn thing.

If it wasn’t a bomb it could be something wrong with her key fob or something wrong with the car, but she doubted either alternative. She wasn’t naive. Growing up in an area under constant political turmoil and terrorist bombings instilled just the right amount of caution in her to keep her alive. After being faced with a lifetime of kidnapping and assassination attempts, Rowan recognized danger when she encountered it. This smelled wrong. Or was she just being paranoid?

Once at a safe distance, she continued to back away from the car until she could breathe and dig around in her bag for her phone. Once she caught her breath, she called her contact on the London police force.

“O’Malley here. I think we need the bomb squad,” she said. After giving him the address of her location, she left. There was no sense staying and being identified by the press. If anything was going to happen, the bomb squad would be there and take care of it.

Why would her car have been targeted unless COBRA had been linked to her? Had someone suspected she was the developer working on the security project and sold her out?

Rowan checked the street cams and briskly walked away. The bomb squad and police would know what to do, and she needed to get away from there as fast as she could. She needed to go dark, and hide. Two blocks over there were a few department stores where she could find a change of clothing, a disguise.

Her phone signaled a text message and startled Rowan back to the present. The information was worse news from a contact in Derry. Two bombs—one at her home in Derry and one near her office in Queen’s Island—went off injuring several people, one a woman who looked very much like her.

She called her contact for details but he claimed that was all he had for now. “Thanks for letting me know,” she said and cursed under her breath as she hung up. “Shit.”

Almost at the department store, Rowan disappeared out of camera range into an alley to contact her father and tell him what happened. She needed to set her disappearing plan into motion.

After he’d heard her out, he gave out a long sigh. “This wasn’t an attempt, it was a warning. What have you done to piss off the NIRA?”

“It’s not the NIRA, Da. Whoever is behind this is trying to make it look like an internal organizational struggle.”

“If you need help, I still have some contacts,” the old Michael O’Malley said, father first negotiator second for a change.

“Keep your ears open. I know you could raise a small army, but I can handle this on my own. These players aren’t interested in your cause, they’re interested in disrupting my research. I have a small army of my own.”

“Aye, not the English blokes I hope.”

She considered her few American contacts. He’d like that. “They’re mostly foreign, Da.”

“That’s my brilliant girl. Be cautious.” In spite of his casual words, her father’s chuckle sounded relieved. She knew he cared for her and he was proud of what she’d accomplished even though he still didn’t fully trust the people she worked with in the British government. For the most part, neither did she.

After she promised him she would go to her office in the apartment she kept a secret from everyone but him, he sounded relieved.

“Good, lass. This isn’t the time to be brave or stupid.”

“Not being either, I’ll be fine. I’ll return to my office in the Netherlands after things cool down. You know how to contact me if need be.”

After a few more offers and warnings, she clicked off and called her London office.

“Daniel, something’s come up. Cancel Schmidt and I’ll contact you later.”

“Call the American you had dinner with. He is making my life a living hell, and Jacqui keeps calling, leaving messages, too.”

“I’ll take care of them. Clear my appointments for next week.”

“Wait…that’s all? You’ll take care of them? I’m your right hand. What’s going on? Are you in danger?” He rambled on, the pitch in his voice rising.

“No. Well, maybe just a bit. You, be careful. Better yet, take a vacation. I’ll call you when it’s time to return.”

The meeting she was supposed to have with Helmut Schmidt, the World Bank chairman, would have to wait, she needed a face to face with Reinhardt. If he didn’t know, he would find out if anyone could, who was behind these were
warning shots
or failed attempts on her life.

Cartels all over the world were all ready to kill her to prevent her from completing COBRA and they didn’t even know the full potential of her program. Apparently, they suspected it was a threat to every major power and the hope for every minor one. She’d have to tread lightly from this point forward.

Her one regret was that she was going to miss negotiating a deal with Cade, but it couldn’t be helped.

She stepped out of the department store looking nothing like the woman who’d walked in, and unless the police had a damn good reason, they weren’t going to review hours of video footage to explain why the woman leaving had never entered the store. She’d be safe.

From behind, a familiar voice murmured, “Keep walking and don’t look back.”

“How’d you find me?” she whispered, and slipped into an alley, pulling Cade with her into the shadows.

He followed her lead and kept his face concealed. “I spoke to Jacqui, and I believe you have my down payment in your bag.”

For a whole minute Rowan was confused.
What down payment?
Then she remembered the check for 2.5 million American dollars. “You?” A down payment? “You put a tracking device on the check?”

“I had to do something.” He shrugged, trying to look all cute and innocent, but she knew better. His smile destroyed any resolve she had against him.

“You left me without a note or a word the other morning. I had no way of contacting you again. No way of knowing if you’d stay safe.” Then he scowled. “There’s a huge bounty on your very pretty head, Ms. O’Malley.”

“Pretty head?” She laughed. “You have a magnificent imagination, sir.” In her finest old woman disguise, she was hardly pretty.

“Rowan, you’re in trouble. You are out of your element. We’re all worried about you.”

“Fine, just stay back. I don’t want to be seen with you.”

“Let the professionals take it from here.”

“Okay, you can come with me, but I’m going to find Snake for Grey. Cobra’s test-run worked. I have most of his data, all his contacts, and the password into his system. I can get in any time I want. Tell me what you want with the system?”

“We want to help you develop it, and protect you and your project from the terrorists.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Who are you really, and what can you do for me?”

“I am who I said I was, and I can accompany you. Tell me where we’re going?”

“Amsterdam—then to my place in Eindhoven. A friend there will give me an update on the offers. He has the list of serious contenders.”

“A 2.5 billion dollar down payment isn’t serious?”

“I like to know who I’m in bed with.”

Cade’s eyes widened, and then narrowed. “You were in bed with me, not my alias’ or someone who wants a system from you. You were with the man I am. The man who won’t let anything happen to you. If that’s not enough, I can’t give you more if that’s what you’re asking.”

He grabbed her upper arms and dragged her against him, kissing her hard.

“Attacking old ladies and ravishing them is going to ruin your reputation as a ladies’ man, Hollywood.”

“Hollywood? Really?” He chuckled. “My foster-sister used to call me that, still does if she’s disgusted with me. Are you disgusted, Ms. O’Malley?”

Rowan laughed. “Hardly. Now let’s get going. My company plane is waiting.”

“I don’t have PJ’s or a toothbrush.”

“I’ll buy you a toothbrush. You won’t need the PJ’s.”

“I love older women.”

* * * * *

By the time they reached the small private airport, Rowan had begun to second-guess herself. Her attraction to Cade changed her game. With the bombs going off and confirmation of the bounty on her head, she grew more confused about who she should trust—and more skeptical than ever about IATO, the group that didn’t show up anywhere… And Cade. Where did he fall into her plans?

“A penny for your thoughts, Ms. O’Malley?”

“My thoughts come with a higher price, Mr. James.” She figured he really wouldn’t want to know how her mind wandered through the minefield of should she or shouldn’t she. It wouldn’t take much to send her running. This time he wouldn’t track her down because she wouldn’t allow him to.

“You’re looking a little befuddled.”

Rowan threw her head back and let out a deep belly laugh and a few snorts. In the midst of all this—the disguise, the bombs, the subterfuge—the man thought she looked
befuddled
?

“What?” He grinned. “What’s so funny?”

Rowan snorted again and laughed hysterically. That was probably the issue. Hysteria. But she couldn’t stop. Wiping the tears, she tried to compose herself… “Give me a minute.”

She excused herself and went into her private bathroom, removed her disguise, washed up, and changed her clothes. She stared into the mirror wondering if
befuddled
was the look she saw staring back at her.

Possibly and why not? The man with her may have come highly recommended, but he worked for a phantom organization and was dangerous. Deadly dangerous, and she was contemplating being intimate with him…again.

How ready was she to put her life’s work, not to mention her actual life, in the hands of a man who was even more jaded than she was? What did they say about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer? Still, she couldn’t ignore the fact that Jacqui, Grey and Athena had all vetted him and claimed to trust him. If she started doubting her best friends then who would she believe or trust to have her back in the future.

She ran a hand through her hair and turned away. Her psychologist claimed she had trust issues because she blamed her father for her mother’s death.

The reasons for her trust issues settled closer to home. She had trust issues because of career choices she made at the age of fourteen. Kids could make mistakes they would pay for as adults. In her case, she worked constantly on her trust issues.