Protecting Justice (The Justice Series Book 4) by Misty Evans, Adrienne Giordano
Authors: Misty Evans, Adrienne Giordano
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country abbreviations. GB equals Great Britain. CH, China. CA, Canada, etc.”
People from around the world. There had to be a hundred or more.
Fallyn unbuttoned her coat but left it on. The building was chilly even if it was in the fifties outside.
“So what do you think those are?” Tony pointed at the middle column of letters and numbers again. The puzzle seemed to be bugging him as much as her. “They look like seat numbers. You know, like for a basketball game or a concert.”
“That’s it!” Teeg burst back into the room, running toward them, the door he’d come through banging against the wall.
“What is?” Tony said.
The computer whiz bombed around them, dropped into his chair, and started typing. “Seat numbers! We need to cross reference databases with those names and seat numbers.”
They all watched as the middle screen went blank, then Teeg’s typing appeared in lines and lines of computer code Fallyn had no way of understanding.
While the computer scrolled and Teeg typed, a new screen came to life with an internet search. Tony, who was standing entirely too close to her, touched her back again.
He could feel it too. The electricity. The adrenaline.
His touch was light, easy, no hidden message, although if his touch had suggested he wanted to kiss her, she wouldn’t have minded.
She liked the closeness. The touch didn’t freak her out. In fact, she almost grabbed his hand and anchored it to her hip. Go figure.
But then the large screen showing the internet search results came to a standstill. “Got it,” Teeg said. “The letter-number combos are for seats. Tony, you’re a genius.”
He did some finger action again on his keyboard and a copy of the tablet spreadsheet merged onto the large screen in front of them, nestling side-by-side with the search page results.
“What is that?” Fallyn pointed at the search engine screen. “It looks like a newspaper article.”
“It is,” Grey said.
Tony slid forward to eyeball both items, releasing her and putting his hands on the desk as he read. “Holy shit.”
“Holy shit, what?” Fallyn said. Her skin crawled but she didn’t know why.
He looked over his shoulder at her, his face grim. “The list on your sister’s tablet corresponds exactly to the names of the people who disappeared on CanAir 702 two months ago.”
The CanAir disappearance had rocked the news. One hundred and twenty-eight people had disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico. No plane had been found, no bodies, no wreckage washed up on shore. Some speculated aliens had stolen the plane and its passengers. Some said it was the Bermuda Triangle effect, even though the plane’s last known coordinates were nowhere near that area. Others claimed the plane went off track and ended up on a deserted island. The fact was, no one knew, but experts speculated the plane had crashed into the ocean.
On top of that, the CIA had verified that a known terrorist leader had been on board under a bogus identity. While there was no evidence Abdul-Nasser Nazari was responsible, most people believed he’d taken the plane down as an act of terrorism.
“Those names are hardly a secret,” Fallyn said. “I don’t know why Heather would have had a coded file of them, but…”
A flicker of doubt crossed her mind. She took a step back. There was something here. Something about her sister, the information on the tablet, and a missing plane full of innocent people. Had Heather been suspicious of the plane’s disappearance and been investigating it?
Had that investigation gotten her killed?
Jesus.
Why? Who? Fallyn’s brain spun with questions.
“We need to decode the rest of the file,” Grey said, a few questions showing in his own eyes. “Heather used a different code for each file in the folder. Any chance she learned more than one code at camp?”
Fallyn sighed. “Can you believe sixteen?”
All three men looked at her like she was nuts.
Her sister had hated bugs and weeds,
People from around the world. There had to be a hundred or more.
Fallyn unbuttoned her coat but left it on. The building was chilly even if it was in the fifties outside.
“So what do you think those are?” Tony pointed at the middle column of letters and numbers again. The puzzle seemed to be bugging him as much as her. “They look like seat numbers. You know, like for a basketball game or a concert.”
“That’s it!” Teeg burst back into the room, running toward them, the door he’d come through banging against the wall.
“What is?” Tony said.
The computer whiz bombed around them, dropped into his chair, and started typing. “Seat numbers! We need to cross reference databases with those names and seat numbers.”
They all watched as the middle screen went blank, then Teeg’s typing appeared in lines and lines of computer code Fallyn had no way of understanding.
While the computer scrolled and Teeg typed, a new screen came to life with an internet search. Tony, who was standing entirely too close to her, touched her back again.
He could feel it too. The electricity. The adrenaline.
His touch was light, easy, no hidden message, although if his touch had suggested he wanted to kiss her, she wouldn’t have minded.
She liked the closeness. The touch didn’t freak her out. In fact, she almost grabbed his hand and anchored it to her hip. Go figure.
But then the large screen showing the internet search results came to a standstill. “Got it,” Teeg said. “The letter-number combos are for seats. Tony, you’re a genius.”
He did some finger action again on his keyboard and a copy of the tablet spreadsheet merged onto the large screen in front of them, nestling side-by-side with the search page results.
“What is that?” Fallyn pointed at the search engine screen. “It looks like a newspaper article.”
“It is,” Grey said.
Tony slid forward to eyeball both items, releasing her and putting his hands on the desk as he read. “Holy shit.”
“Holy shit, what?” Fallyn said. Her skin crawled but she didn’t know why.
He looked over his shoulder at her, his face grim. “The list on your sister’s tablet corresponds exactly to the names of the people who disappeared on CanAir 702 two months ago.”
The CanAir disappearance had rocked the news. One hundred and twenty-eight people had disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico. No plane had been found, no bodies, no wreckage washed up on shore. Some speculated aliens had stolen the plane and its passengers. Some said it was the Bermuda Triangle effect, even though the plane’s last known coordinates were nowhere near that area. Others claimed the plane went off track and ended up on a deserted island. The fact was, no one knew, but experts speculated the plane had crashed into the ocean.
On top of that, the CIA had verified that a known terrorist leader had been on board under a bogus identity. While there was no evidence Abdul-Nasser Nazari was responsible, most people believed he’d taken the plane down as an act of terrorism.
“Those names are hardly a secret,” Fallyn said. “I don’t know why Heather would have had a coded file of them, but…”
A flicker of doubt crossed her mind. She took a step back. There was something here. Something about her sister, the information on the tablet, and a missing plane full of innocent people. Had Heather been suspicious of the plane’s disappearance and been investigating it?
Had that investigation gotten her killed?
Jesus.
Why? Who? Fallyn’s brain spun with questions.
“We need to decode the rest of the file,” Grey said, a few questions showing in his own eyes. “Heather used a different code for each file in the folder. Any chance she learned more than one code at camp?”
Fallyn sighed. “Can you believe sixteen?”
All three men looked at her like she was nuts.
Her sister had hated bugs and weeds,
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