“Well, you agreed.”
“My name isn’t on that document anywhere is it?”
Melanie Garrett stopped her pacing and looked at her mother in stunned silence. In the seedy back lots of her Deep South youth, Nina Hastings had learned to play for keeps. She was, in fact, no different than the run of the mill terrorist, plotting the destruction and sending others to do her bidding. At the very core of her existence was a narcissistic drive fueled by a fear of unworthiness, but which manifested itself in the form of vitriolic subterfuge. She had to destroy everything around her to make herself feel worthy.
“What are you saying? We’re in this together.”
Nina stared at her daughter. Her emotions were not clashing. Rather, she viewed everything through a lens that reflected back onto herself. Her prism was indeed a mirror. Nina chuckled a patronizing tune.
“Of course, dear.” She would just have to see how everything developed. Nina Hastings always kept her options open.
“Is Dagus still with us? He’s not going to blow the cover, is he?” She was beginning to feel paranoid.
“What you don’t know is that he got all moral and everything about this stupid media hunt group he’s in. He started to back out. He said it was more important to expose the truth. The people have a right to know and all that happy horseshit.”
“But the pedophile thing. We’ve got him on that.”
“He called your bluff, Melanie. Only you weren’t here. I took the call, and we met after school last week. Dagus knows the file is sealed, and it would take an act of Congress to open it.”
“But still, just the implication—”
“And he sues your ass for a million dollars.”
“So what did you do?”
“Let’s just say I gave him some incentive.”
Melanie looked at her mother warily. “Incentive?”
“I made a deal with him. He lives up to his end of the bargain, and I give him $10,000.”
“You did what?”
“Don’t you think I know what’s going on around here? I knew the man was a pervert from the first day I met him. He wanted Amanda. I diverted his attention to that little slut Brianna instead.” Nina waved her hand as if to swat a fly and turned away. She walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Melanie followed her mother into Amanda’s room.
“Are you saying he wanted to have sex with Amanda?”
“Oh don’t pretend to be so naïve, Melanie. You knew that from the beginning. And to protect your five hundred thousand dollars I’m sure you were considering it. I heard you in the driveway, urging Amanda to go see Dagus. And you knew! I saved you from yourself!”
Melanie crossed her arms and looked away at the oak chest she had cradled the other day.
“Go ahead, pretend it isn’t true. I don’t care.” Nina drove the stake in a bit deeper.
“But—”
“No ‘buts,’ Melanie. Listen. I’ve seen the way Brianna looks at Dagus. So, she gets to experiment. Dagus gets a fix. He keeps his mouth shut for you. Brianna gets some money for her mom. Everybody wins.”
“For me?”
The two women stared at one another for a few moments.
“Well, are we going to just stand here, or are we going to finish this thing? Is that keystroke software still working?” Nina asked, staring at Amanda’s computer.
Melanie looked into the hallway, as if she was expecting Amanda to materialize, and then back at her mother. She did a quick visual tour of the room. The bright yellow-and-white patterned bedspread was made neatly. The mini-blinds were opened slightly. The street light painted muted yellow prison bars on the floor. Amanda’s desk contained the usual smattering of notepaper and opened school books.
She sighed, as if to shake off the film of their nefarious deeds. “Of course. We’ve been using it for years. Why wouldn’t it work now?”
And of course she picked up right where she left off. “Then let’s see what our little girl has been up to.”
Melanie sat down at the computer and pressed four keys at once, but instead of prompting her to activate the keystroke copy software she had installed on Amanda’s computer, it stopped her screen saver and prompted a password.
“That’s new.” She tried again the four simultaneous keys required to activate the keystroke software saved on the root drive, with no result.
“Why would she change her password?” Melanie asked aloud.
“Why do you think? I thought I trained you better than that.” Nina’s voice drew a sharp edge. “She’s hiding something.”
Melanie tried several different combinations of passwords that she had retrieved from the keystroke and screenshots secretly saved to her hard drive. All were unsuccessful. There was even a function that recorded the information and sent blind e-mails to a designated account, essentially delivering everything the individual typed into the computer keyboard as well as screenshots every minute. The screenshot was particularly useful in seeing what others were sending Amanda or what she was viewing on the Internet. Melanie had rationalized the use of the software four years ago under the premise of protecting Amanda from Internet predators.
Nina sat on the edge of the bed as Melanie turned around to respond to her question. “What are you going to do?”
“Well, I need to find out what she’s hiding from us. It’s the only way to keep her under control.”
“I’m aware of that, but if you can’t get in, what can you do?”
“We’ve got to find her and stop whatever it is she has planned. There are too many people involved now, if what you say is true. A lawyer and a journalist to go along with this Dwyer bitch?”
“That’s right.”
“Who’s the lawyer?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Humor me.”
“Foxworth.”
Melanie let out a long sigh. Just about everyone in the Carolinas had heard the name of the promising young attorney whose litigation brilliance compelled adversaries to seek solutions outside of the courtroom. “He’s the ‘fathers’ rights’ guy?”
“Part of his portfolio.”
Melanie chewed on her bottom lip for a minute and looked at her mother. “I’ve got to find Amanda now. Talking to her is the only way.”
“Good luck.”
As she stood, the home phone rang. Answering it, she heard what she thought was Amanda’s voice screaming. “Mother, it’s the new house! Come, quick!”
Jake Devereaux spun the ankle bracelet that the deputy sheriff had secured to his leg several days ago. “Fricking house arrest…”
He lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling, absently tossing a football to see how close he could bring it to touching the plaster without actually making contact.
On his fifth try he nicked the ceiling and some white dust fell into his face. Spitting it out, he sat up, which was when he heard his computer buzz. He had been keeping connected to his Yahoo! instant messenger with voice, hoping Amanda would contact him.
He sat down at his desk, shifted the mouse to remove the screen saver and then listened as the two women talked. The voices were surprisingly clear, though one seemed closer to the microphone than the other.
“That’s new.”
“Why would she change her password?”
Jake scrambled for his cell phone. He had to call them before it was too late. He made the connection and began a long conversation.
CHAPTER 72
Mullah Rahman received the call from Bagram that “hundreds” of helicopters were taking off and flying to the east. Translated, that meant probably thirty or forty. His man inside in the Laundromat had spotted “thousands” of 101st Airborne Division soldiers boarding the helicopters which meant that the action was going to take place inside of Afghanistan as the conventional soldiers never pressed too far up against the border, much less crossed into Pakistan.