Author: Allison Brennan
Category: Suspense
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/allison-brennan/page,10,583429-a_deeper_fear.html
“Sounds like a thief.”
Sean was thinking. She loved watching him while he thought deeply, because his mind was like a computer. He was running through a bunch of scenarios quickly, trying to put together facts he knew with the evidence that presented itself.
“I think you’re right,” he said. “A heist. It makes sense. Multiple people involved—at least three. Using the roof as access. Maybe to rob someone in the hotel—and leaving this way? Or going across to . . . this building. The Ban Roll-on building.”
“The what?”
“It’s what we called it when I was a kid. It’s round, like Ban Roll-on.”
She laughed.
“See here?” He pointed to the satellite image. “It’s flat on this side. There’s a helicopter pad. A way to access the building from the roof. Either they’re going from the Sheraton to that building, or vice versa.”
“They did this Wednesday night. They thought Ellen had seen them, so they grabbed the drone. Whatever they got, they’re probably long gone.”
“I haven’t heard of a major theft, but maybe it hasn’t gotten out, or it hasn’t been publicized. Or they were doing recon. If they knew you went to the roof and then went up to erase any evidence, they were still in the hotel.”
It made sense, but Lucy thought this seemed elaborate for a theft. “Maybe they’re looking to rob the Sheraton. There are events there—not the law enforcement conference, but other conferences, meetings.”
“It’s worth looking into, but then why a grappling hook? I think they have a plan to do something from the roof.”
Sean definitely thought outside the box when it came to these sort of things, so she nodded. “We can’t do anything about it now, it’s midnight,” Lucy said. “But I’ll email John and Megan and we should discuss this in the morning.”
“I agree. Early. The police will want to talk to each of the businesses and have them check for any thefts. It could be something was taken and no one noticed. Files, an account that was emptied. Probably not the bank—they would have a far more elaborate security system than the businesses upstairs.”
“Bank?” Lucy asked, not sure she was following.
Sean walked over to the window in the corner and looked out. She followed and stood at his side. He wrapped one arm around her, held her close, and pointed across the way. “That’s the Ban Roll-on building. There’s a bank on the bottom floor, a twenty-four-hour security desk, several financial services companies, some nonprofits, some lawyers.”
“You know a lot about who works there.”
“RCK has some clients in the building. A few that could be targets, but we would have heard if their system was breached. I hope—if they followed our protocols, they would be alerted immediately.”
“Maybe the man in black was doing recon, like you said. Didn’t actually break into anything yet. Or maybe they were just after information and didn’t actually take anything.”
“Possible. Definitely possible.”
Sean turned and pulled Lucy into his arms. “Send your email, I want to take you back to bed.”
“Bossy, aren’t we?”
“I have to make up for lost time.”
“I’ll send the email on one condition.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Now who’s bossy?”
“I noticed in the bathroom that there’s a big bathtub. Big enough for two.”
“You noticed that, did you?”
“Fill it up. And you might just find a bottle of champagne in the mini fridge.”
“You ordered champagne?”
“I did.”
“What are we celebrating?”
She stared into Sean’s deep-blue eyes. She loved him so much, and she would make sure he knew it every single day. She kissed him lightly. “Us.”
Chapter Eleven
Lucy was grateful that Megan and Jack arrived early and brought her suitcase. She changed into fresh clothes and came out just as John Black arrived.
“Your email intrigued me, Kincaid—if I wasn’t completely crashed when it came in after midnight, I might have come over then.”
“Eat,” Sean said. “I ordered up breakfast.”
That was an understatement. There was enough for ten people, not just the five who were there.
“I never say no to free food,” John said.
Jack had already started to eat. He hadn’t said much since he came in. While Jack not talking wasn’t generally a cause for alarm, she sensed the tension between Jack and Sean and wished she hadn’t talked to Jack about her problems. Except . . . Jack was one of the few people she trusted completely, and the only person she felt comfortable talking to about anything personal. Weird, she supposed, since he was her brother.
Lucy hoped that Jack and Sean mended fences. She would be distraught if they had a falling-out. She loved both her brother and her husband so much, and their friendship meant a lot to her—and to them.
Lucy didn’t want to ask what the suite was costing Sean—the living quarters had a conference table that could seat eight, as well as a desk, a cabinet with whiteboard and television, two couches and two chairs, and a bar. But he’d told her he made twenty thousand dollars playing blackjack and poker, and he didn’t feel good about the winnings.
“I didn’t have as much fun as I used to . . . and I knew that I was just avoiding going home. So I want to do this. We can stay all weekend.”
They’d agreed to stay at least until Saturday, when Jack and Megan were having a party and expected them to be there.
Sean motioned for them to sit at the conference table. “I don’t have a formal presentation, but I set up my laptop so I can show you a couple of slides I created this morning about why I think I’m right—or close to right.”
He opened the television, and what was on his laptop was projected onto the screen. It was the photo Lucy had taken on her cell phone on the roof of the Sheraton.
“These marks,” he said, “are from a type of grappling hook. They are used by mountain climbers, but they’re also used for zip lines. This”—he pointed to a deeper mark—“is a specialized hook. If something slips, it’ll flip out and secure on a lip. This roof has a lip that works for just this type of device.”
“Our crime scene techs couldn’t find anything comparable in the database,” John said.
“It’s very difficult to match these up, not unless you’re familiar with exactly what to look for. I don’t have access to all the types of hooks and devices that might cause these exact marks, but if you found the equipment, your forensics team could match it up.”
“Okay, I can buy into that.” John sounded a bit skeptical, but he was clearly interested.
“When Lucy and I were talking last night, we were running through all the possibilities why someone would be on the roof and not want anyone to know they were there—thus going after the drone. Most obvious is an illegal motive—theft is clearly the most logical. The Sheraton itself is a possible target, but I only have a list of their public events. There could be private events I don’t know about. They have a small reinsurers’ conference going on, with only a hundred people registered. They have a wedding reception tomorrow night and a graduation party tonight. I would assume that many of the cops registered for the law enforcement conference are at the Sheraton.”
“Half the hotel is law enforcement this week,” Megan said. “Same with the Hyatt.”
John said, “I actually talked to the Sheraton going down that same train of thought, Sean. Other than the events you mentioned, there’s a retirement dinner for the CEO of a pharmaceutical company tonight. I talked to the director, the guy has no known threats. There’s also a big nonprofit fundraiser and auction on Sunday. No known dignitaries, but that doesn’t mean much—I considered that there might be something valuable at the auction, but I looked at the list of items on the block, and it’s things like tickets to a River Cats game, a week in Lake Tahoe, a wine-of-the-month club. Nothing of great value, though I can
’t get the guest list—not without a warrant.”
“Did you go through the security footage?” Megan asked.
John nodded. “We’re still looking at it during the window before and after Ellen was attacked, but no one stands out. We’re also looking at the footage during the time Lucy and I were at the Sheraton. Someone went up to the roof after we left but before my techs got there because the door was wiped clean. Lucy pointed out that the security chief, at a minimum, would have had prints on the door because he let us in.”
“You should ask them to run a comparison,” Lucy said, “if they can.”
“Of what?”
“All adult males under fifty who were in the first section of surveillance tape—from Wednesday night—and the second section, when we were there.”
John nodded. “Good idea.” He texted someone on his phone. “Consider it done.”
“Two people attacked Ellen,” Megan said. “There’s nothing to make us believe that there were only two people involved.”
“That’s pretty much what Lucy and I thought,” John said. “The timing would be too close for the man on the roof to also be one of the two men downstairs who attacked Ellen—not impossible, but nearly. I’m pretty certain we’re looking for three men at this point. Maybe more, but at least three.” John looked back at Sean. “I sense that you don’t think anyone at the Sheraton is a target.”
“I don’t, but I can be convinced someone is. I also think we should look at the Hyatt, because there are so many people going back and forth between the two hotels, and the convention center, that it’s not suspicious. But I think the real target is a business in the Ban Roll-on building.”
John laughed. “You are a native.”
Sean grinned. “I had to look up the actual name of the building, and it’s boring: 1201K? What kind of name is that? At least the sleek building next door is called the Esquire.”
“The police union has an office at 1201K,” John said.
“So do several RCK clients,” Jack said.
“There are several potential targets,” Sean said. “But looking at the trajectory—” He clicked his computer and another slide came up, from Google Earth, showing the satellite image of the Sheraton and 1201K. “The roof of the Sheraton is almost level with the roof of 1201K. The corner that the grappling marks were found points to that building—I would have to get on the roof to know exactly how they might breach the structure, but it would be much easier at night from the roof than trying to bypass security downstairs—especially since there is a twenty-four seven guard at the desk.
“The Sheraton is eighteen floors. The Esquire building is taller, and there’s no access point at a level lower than the Sheraton. Meaning, no balconies. But again, the Ban Roll-on building—1201K Tower—is near level.”
“Okay, now you lost me, Rogan,” John said.
“There are two reasons why someone would be on that roof. One, assassination. From that nest, they could target someone primarily on K Street, and part of J. For 12th Street, the angle is wrong, and most of 13th Street is blocked by the Esquire building. To me, that’s too narrow a coverage area, plus escape would be much more difficult. The other reason to be there is for a robbery. Getting in from the roof at 1201K would be child’s play for anyone with moderate to advanced skills. Elevators are locked, stairwells are locked—but being locked just means you need a key. Or you can use the vents, which are accessible from the roof. Most of the time ventilation systems aren’t good for breaching a facility—they’re smaller than most people think—but the access points are larger, and they just need it big enough to get into the building, not move around inside.”
“You keep saying accessible,” Megan said, “but they don’t adjoin.”
“It’s less than fifty feet from this corner”—he pointed on the satellite image—“to the roof of 1201K. Easy to hook up a zip line. They would certainly be able to secure it here, and from my view of the 1201K roof, it can be secured there as well. If there are corresponding marks, that would tell us that they either already completed their theft or did a dry run. If there’s nothing on the other building, it could be a simple scaling of the wall, but I can’t figure out why they’d go up or down on the outside. They’d be too visible—except maybe in the middle of the night. Same with a zip line.”
No one said anything. Then John asked, “Assuming you’re right—who? What’s of value?”
“Information. Technology.” Sean clicked his mouse and the image changed. “Here’s the list of every lease in the building. I highlighted three that I think are the most vulnerable. First, a tech company that’s developing high-end encryption software for financial institutions. If you can steal their specs, once the software is rolled out, it’s vulnerable to hackers. If you can steal it without anyone knowing, that is. The second, a law firm that’s representing a pharmaceutical company in a major, multimillion-dollar wrongful death class-action suit. They also have several other high-profile clients. Getting access to those records could mean blackmail, fraud, any number of things. The third is of course the bank on the main floor.”
“Which would be doubly protected.”
“Yes, except for the fact that their executive offices are on a different floor with a private elevator that goes down to the main bank. Get into the executive offices and you can access the system or the vault. If you have the skills.”
“A bank robbery,” John muttered.
“Other businesses may be vulnerable as well—there are several that I don’t know what they do—and information is as valuable as cash,” Sean said. “One of those would go to the top of our list if they deal in finance or information, but I need more time to research.”
“Omni Inc.,” Jack said.
Sean looked at the list. “I’m not familiar with them.”
“They used to be Golden State Investing,” Jack said. “RCK handles background checks on their employees, which is why they jumped out at me. Sean, you tested their security system a year or two ago, if I remember correctly.”
“You’re right, I remember that,” Sean said. “Yes, they need to be high on the list because they handle tens of millions of dollars in high-end transactions every week. Hacking from the outside would be next to impossible—not without them being alerted. In financial crimes you often look at catfishing, or maybe malware being downloaded on their computers—but if they followed RCK protocols, that would be next to impossible. Still, it only takes one employee to click on an external link, even with the best virus protection software, and a sharp hacker can worm his way in.”
“Then why would a thief need to be on-site?” John asked.
“If they couldn’t get anyone to bite on a link, they can download malware directly by placing a small flash drive in the back of a hard drive, by actually opening up the hard drive itself and inserting a chip—there are several ways to do it if you have control over the physical computer. If they know what they want and have the passcodes, they can log in on-site. Even without passcodes, a talented hacker might be able to break into the system, but it would have be someone as good as or better than me. Or—maybe they don’t need a hacker, if they’re going solely after information. Even in this day and age, some financial information is still on paper. Either way, they’d need to be in the office to access any of that. But if they did it Wednesday or Thursday night, they could have already gotten what they wanted and no one may know.”
“Is that something you can determine?” Jack asked.
Sean nodded. “If the computer network was breached. If someone looked at or copied physical data, I don’t know how anyone would know until that information was used.”
“I need to contact all businesses at 1201K,” John said. “Maybe they don’t know they were robbed.”
“I’d like to talk to Omni myself,” Jack said. “They run RCK computer security on-site, and I know the CFO personally. Richard Lesko.”
“That’s fine. I’d like to be there,” John said. �
�If it turns out Sean’s theory is right and someone is attempting a heist, I need to make sure SPD has a clear chain of evidence.”
“Maybe we should bring in the forensics unit,” Lucy said. “They may be able to analyze the 1201K roof as well as any possible way they can get inside.”
“Good idea,” John said. “But I don’t think I’m going to get approval for that without more evidence. I’ll talk to my boss, see how far I can push on this.”
Sean said, “We need to get access to Omni’s client list, Jack. Find out if any of their clients had any unusually large transactions going through this week, or early next week. These types of financial transactions aren’t going to sit in an escrow account for long—but it’s not unusual for a major real estate transaction or stock buy to take twenty-four to forty-eight hours to clear.”
“How long would it take for someone to steal money electronically?” John asked. “I assume that’s what you’re thinking, that this heist is about cleaning out some bank accounts.”
“Minutes,” Sean said. “They will probably spend more time getting into the building than getting into the computer system—if they have passcodes and know exactly what they’re looking for. A good hacker? Ten to fifteen minutes. The more time, the greater chance of being caught on either end.”
Chapter Twelve
While the rest of them finished breakfast, John Black spent twenty minutes talking to his boss on the phone about Sean’s theory. He was getting some pushback because there was no solid evidence that a heist was planned, and the target of 1201K Street was a guess, at best. But by the end he gave John the okay to investigate and noted that if there was evidence someone had illegally accessed the building, then he would authorize additional resources.
John shared that information the group. “It’s as much as I hoped. I didn’t think he would approve crime techs, not for something this vague. I also have Officer Knight and another detective coming down to help canvass the businesses. It’s nearly nine, we should go over there and talk to security.”