Zee pulled out, hitting a dip in the pavement at the entrance to the street, igniting a cascade of sparks from his loose tailpipe.
George watched the dilapidated car until it reached the corner and disappeared out of sight. He realized that Zee was probably right about the limited options. George immediately zeroed in on Paula. She had to have extensive computer access at Amalgamated. The only problem was whether he could convince her to help him.
George turned and headed back to his apartment. He didn’t notice the black SUV as it pulled away from the curb and followed Zee.
42
There he is,” Michael Donnelly said, pointing to Zee’s car making its way up the entrance to the northbound 405 Freeway. Michael was riding shotgun.
“I see it,” Andor said. He backed off to put more room between the Cadillac Escalade and Zee’s car so that Zee wouldn’t suspect he was being followed. Then they, too, headed up the entrance ramp and accelerated onto the highway. Both men relaxed to a degree. Despite the early hour there was considerable traffic on the road to use as cover.
When they had first started out on the relatively empty city streets, it had been more difficult. Andor had to stay way back to avoid giving himself away. Whenever Zee’s Toyota disappeared from view, Andor was forced to race ahead until Zee’s vehicle was back in sight. Andor was experienced. He was careful to keep at least one car in between so as not to be too obvious.
Zee’s earlier panic was mirrored by the occupants of the SUV. When things started happening in Wilson’s apartment after a long, quiet night, they were caught off guard by the explosive activity. Overnight the home office had done a lot of research and they discovered that Zee Beauregard was a savvy computer programmer who had once been prosecuted for hacking. If Zee was helping George, he would probably need to be watched as well.
The technicians had listened to what conversation there had been that morning and assumed that something specific had ignited Zee’s panic. The problem was that they could not figure out what it was, since conversation in George’s apartment had been limited. When they told Andor and Michael, they had also been at a loss as to what to make of it. Andor and Michael had originally been tasked to follow George Wilson and handle him if need be, depending on developments, but now there was the issue of the neighbor who they assumed also needed to be watched.
While Andor and Michael had been hopefully waiting for more information from the technicians to understand what was going on, Andor had called Butch Gauthier, who was not excited about being awakened so early on a Saturday. His temper cooled as the reasons for the call unfolded. When he heard about Zee Beauregard’s involvement, he told Andor that his instincts were entirely correct and to keep Zee under surveillance as well as George.
Andor had hung up with a twinge of relief, but the relief had been short-lived when Zee had come out and thrown his bags into his car. When Andor had called Butch again, the chief of security told him to follow Zee and that he would have another team sent to cover George Wilson in the interim.
Suddenly Zee’s car shot ahead, zooming up a line of semi rigs, catching Andor by surprise.
“What the hell!” Andor griped. He sped up as Zee’s car disappeared in front of the line of large trucks. When Andor passed them there was no sign of Zee. “Shit!” Andor said. “Where the hell is he?”
Michael twisted in his seat, looking back the way they had come. He was as confused as Andor. “He just vanished. I don’t get it.”
The road straightened out but there was still no sign of Zee. They sped up and passed another line of trucks. Still no Zee.
Suddenly Michael twisted around again and looked back. “Holy shit! How the fuck did he get behind us?”
“The bastard must have dropped back on the other side of that line of trucks we passed.”
The next minute Zee was riding alongside them, obviously trying to peer in through the tinted windows.
“I think he’s on to us,” Michael said, stating the obvious.
Zee’s Toyota sprung ahead, defying its age. Andor and Michael looked at each other.
“We don’t have any choice,” Andor said.
“I agree,” Michael said. “I’ll call Butch just to be sure.”
Andor sped up, intending to keep the Toyota in sight while Michael hit speed-dial on his phone.
43
George decided to call Paula. He knew that there was a three-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Hawaii and had actually made himself wait for a time before calling. But the wait had been excruciating, and he couldn’t hold off any longer. From the moment Zee had left, he’d thought about his course of action, and his conclusion was that Zee was correct. He had to call her. There simply was no other alternative, especially since he would probably become the focus of a criminal investigation due to the hacking that Zee had carried out.
He dialed Paula’s mobile phone. As he waited for the call to go through he wondered how long it might take the authorities to come knocking at his door. With what he knew about government bureaucracy he sincerely doubted that Zee’s panic was justified, at least not for a few weeks, at a minimum. By then George fully intended to have some verifiable answers about iDoc or at least an explanation of why the hacking had to be done. His knowledge of five deaths made George wonder how many deaths there had been in total out of the twenty thousand people in the iDoc beta test. There had to be more. Maybe a lot more.
As George listened to Paula’s phone ring, his thoughts strayed. He had wanted to talk with Paula about his suspicions from day one, certainly not for “sour grapes,” as she had intimated, but because he cared about her hard work being distorted by some unethical person or persons.
There still was no answer on the fourth ring. George progressively became convinced that he would have to be content to deal with voice mail and began to wonder if he should leave a message or just call back later or maybe text. After all, five A.M. Hawaii time is pretty damn early, especially for someone on vacation. He wondered if she was alone or sleeping with some guy. Then he wondered why such a thought even occurred to him.
Then to his shock the phone was answered.
“Hey, George! Good morning!” Paula said. Her voice didn’t sound sleepy or gravelly. In fact, she sounded a bit out of breath.
“I’m sorry for calling so early and waking you up. I realize that it’s only five o’clock in Hawaii.”
“It’s all right. No problem. I wasn’t asleep. I was on the exercise bike getting in a little workout before breakfast. And I’m not in Hawaii. I’m home in Santa Monica. I changed my mind about the trip.”
“You’re here! That’s great!”
“What’s up? I’m surprised to hear from you this early.”
“We need to meet ASAP! I’m afraid I’ve discovered something rather momentous. You’ll want to hear this.”
“Then tell me now.” Her voice had become wary.
“I don’t want to talk about it on the phone. Someone’s having iDoc do something you didn’t ever intend. I’ll come to your house. I’d just as soon get out of my apartment anyway. I may be in trouble for some illegal computer hacking.”
“What computers did you hack, George?” Suddenly she was dead serious.
“None. I’m not capable of it. It was someone I hired.”